Page 33 of Ruin Me Gently

She didn’t deserve that. She hadn’t been the one out here lying, sneaking around, putting her hands all over Lilith like she was some disposable thing.

But she was the one paying for it now. Because now she had to pick up the pieces of his mess. Had to sit in that house, alone, realising the man she’d trusted enough to marry had been throwing it all away in some backlit nightclub. What if she wasn’t even alone? What if they had children? A family?

“You’ve just ruined my life,” he choked out.

I let out a slow breath, tossing the phone onto the sinks beside him. It clattered against the marble, the screen lighting up again with her name.

“No,” I said, tilting my head slightly. “You did that all by yourself, you piece of shit.”

Then I turned, shouldering the door open, leaving him standing there, phone buzzing, life crumbling.

They stood near the curb, Molly glued to her phone while Lilith stood slightly behind her, arms crossed, the neon glow of the club’s sign washing her skin in blue, catching on the stray strands of her dark hair as she shifted.

Exhaling slowly, I dragged a hand through my hair, backing into the shadows of a side street, watching as the Uber pulled up. Molly climbed in first, Lilith following close behind, tucking herself into the seat without a second glance toward the club.

The guy was handled, she was safe, and yet I was still here, pulse too fast, hands flexing at my sides like I was waiting for something.

For what? For her to look back? For some excuse to stay tangled in something I had no business touching?

I should’ve felt better. Relieved. Instead, my chest was too tight, head spinning with the irrational anger from watching Lilith with someone else. The frustration of knowing none of this made sense.

I didn’t do this. I didn’t get jealous. I didn’t getinvolved.This wasn’t me.

And yet, here I was, standing alone in the dark, watching the car disappear, wondering what the hell was happening to me.

This was going too far.

I had rules. Boundaries. I kept my distance. Always.

But I wasn’t just toeing the line anymore—I was obliterating it.

My walls were there for a reason. To make sure no one got hurt. And yet, no matter how many times I told myself to back off, tostop,I kept making excuses. Kept finding ways to justify it.

It had to end. One final thing. Just one last thing to make sure she could keep herself safe without my help.

And then I’d leave her alone. For good.

CHAPTER TEN

Iwas dead.

Not metaphorically, not dramatically—actually, fully, indisputably deceased.

My skull throbbed, my stomach was one wrong move away from emptying itself onto the sheets, and my mouth was so dry it could be legally classified as a desert.

Molly’s twenty-eighth birthday. Right. That’s how I’d ended up like this. I’d been dragged out to some overcrowded, neon-lit bar with a pack of her cousins. It wasn’t my thing. At all. Too many bodies, too much noise, too much everything.

But somewhere in the haze, the sharp, stinging burn of the tequila had melted into a slow, syrupy warmth, smoothing out the edges of my discomfort, turning everything easy and reckless.

“We are so getting laid tonight!”she’d screamed over the music before disappearing. Only to reappear with some guy whose face I could barely picture. Did I even remember his name? Austin? Adam? Aaron? Whatever. It didn’t matter.

All I knew was that I’d been drunk and my inhibitions had disappeared further into the abyss with every shot I’d downed.

We’d danced. We’dkissed.

Shit. I was going to go home with him.

But then—poof.Gone.

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