Page 165 of First Chance

“Tell me that you love me.”

“I love you, so fucking much,” he utters, gripping my hips in his hands.

“Tell me to stay,” I demand, riding his cock like a woman unhinged.

“I can’t,” he whispers.

My hands grip his throat and I feel his rumble of appreciation as I fuck him.

“Tell me to stay!” I beg, feeling the tears stream down my cheeks.

“I can’t!” He forces out, as I crush his windpipe. He doesn’t bother pretending to fight me as he sits up, letting my hands stay wrapped around his neck as he threads his in my hair. “I can’t tell you to stay,” he utters miserably.

It’s as if a balloon bursts and my entire being deflates. My whole body stills.

“You’re really going to let me leave?”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I do.”

“Dammit, Lochlan.” I jump off of him, stumbling off the bed. “You’re breaking my heart.”

His eyes shut, again, and he hangs his head. “I know, but you’ll forgive me one day.”

“No, I won’t.” I feel the pieces of my rational self fall apartone by one as he sits there in silence. “You promised that you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“You weren’t supposed to fall in love with me!”

“But, I did! And, if you let me leave here, then this isn’t what I thought it was. You’re just another person to use me and throw me away.” I storm out of his room to his grandparents’ old room, where my suitcase is.

“Jo!” He calls after me, but he doesn’t follow me.

I expect him to chase me, but he doesn’t, and I sink to my knees, wrapping myself in my arms. After everything I’ve gone through this summer, I still only have myself…

I’m all alone, again.

* * *

I picked myself up off the floor, and he didn’t come check on me.

I dusted myself off, got dressed, and he didn’t come.

I got ready for the last time in this house without a single bit of protest from him.

My heart is shattered because of it. The pain feels so real, as if it’s truly breaking into a million pieces.

When I step into the hallway with my suitcase, you could hear a pin drop, and that’s when I realize he isn’t even in the house. I check all the rooms upstairs and down, but he’s gone.

The rental car company will be here to pick me up soon, but he’s nowhere to be found. His Bronco is still out front, but he’s not on the porch or in his rocking chair.

He really had me fooled.

I sit on the porch steps with my giant suitcase and wait because I’m the only one I have left. I’m too embarrassed to call Jackson and let him hear my heartbreak, and I don’t want to go searching for one of the guys who have become my friends and stumble upon the man who doesn’t even want me…

A man who would let me leave without saying goodbye.

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