Page 277 of Kentrell

But I did.

God, I did.

And as his arms wrapped around me, drowning me in his scent and heat, I cried. Cried for his love… and for how bad I wanted to believe him.

“That’s why I put yo name across my heart.”

He pulled me back just enough to kiss the top of my head… then my nose… then my lips.

And I let him.

Let myself get lost in his words… the thudding of my heart… and the way he made me feel like I belonged to him.

But reality hit fast and hard.

“Mm… no.” I tore myself out of his arms.

“No. No. No. No.” I shook my head, stumbling back a step.

“You love the version of me Malcolm built in that file?—”

“Zoe—”

“No, Kentrell!”

My voice lifted higher than his this time.

“You don’t get to love me… not after what you did to me.”

“You think I planned for this? You think I wanted to feel this way about you?!” His jaw was tight, his hands clenched. “I tried to keep it clean, Zoe. I did. But you got in my head. In my fuckin’heart. I wasn’t ever gonna touch you. I couldn’t. Not after that first conversation. Not after seeing who you really were.”

I was crying so hard now I couldn’t breathe.

“That first conversation,” I whispered. “When I asked what you did.”

His silence told me everything.

“You told me—told me straight to my face—you were a problem solver. No license. Just talent.”

I laughed, but it was hollow.

“And Istilllet you in.”

“Zoe,” he breathed, stepping forward.

I raised a hand and he stopped.

“I can’t even hate you,” I said. “And that’s what hurts most. I hateme. For believing in you.”

A faint voice crackled behind me. My head turned. My phone was still on the desk. Still connected.

Still on the call.

“Zoe?” My mother’s voice was anxious now. “Zoe, where are you? What’s going on?Are you okay?”

I couldn’t answer her. Not honestly.

Because what was I supposed to say?

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