Page 104 of Hypnotized By Love

What if I’d made a huge mistake in accusing him?

Or was he holding off for another reason?

I didn’t know what to think. And I couldn’t hash it out with anyone. My sister and parents would just tell me to go talk to him and I couldn’t call Bridget and Camila was busy and I wasn’t sure what to do.

Staying in this limbo where I felt half-alive didn’t seem like a good plan, either.

“I broke up with Joseph today,” Sierra told me as we were eating a container of ice cream and watching yet another Cary Grant movie.

“You did? Good for you.”

“Yeah, I figured one of us should be making some progress in our love life and having real conversations.”

I had wanted to ask her how it went, what he’d said, but her words kind of shut me down. Because she was moving from being entirely sympathetic and on my side of the scale toward the middle. She might have even moved over to the “poor Mason” part.

“I’m glad that you stood up for yourself,” I told Sierra, ignoring her implication. “Like I told you, you deserve better.”

She gave me a pointed look, but she didn’t say anything.

When she was quiet like this, all it did was give me more time to think about Mason, which I did constantly.

Because the worst part of all of this was how much I missed him. Like someone had removed vital pieces of me and I couldn’t function without them.

Without him.

“I’m going to go upstairs for a little while,” I told my sister, and she just nodded. I put my spoon in the kitchen sink and then went up to my room.

I had just crawled into bed when I heard a knock at my door. I sat up, surprised. My family had no boundaries, and nobody ever knocked on each other’s bedroom doors.

My heart beat low and hard in my chest as I called out, “Come in!”

I realized that I wanted it to be Mason. Wanted it so much I wondered if I could will it into being.

But when the door opened, Bridget was standing there.

I was so surprised to see her that I blinked a couple of times, my mouth slightly open. I finally managed to say, “What are you doing here?”

She looked as anxious as I felt. “I was hoping I could talk to you, if that’s okay.”

“Um, sure.” I gestured toward the chair at my desk, and she went and sat in it, perched on the edge as if she were ready to run away quickly if she needed to. I took one of my pillows and hugged it against my chest. Like it could protect me.

There was a long pause, and one moment turned into two until we’d been sitting there for almost a full minute in silence when she finally spoke. “Again, I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t change anything, but I do need you to know that. I really regret my actions, both back in high school and when we met again a couple of years ago. I shouldhave told you the truth, and I’m sorry for the way I hurt you and your family. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Thank you,” I said. I was so emotionally drained from crying constantly over Mason that I didn’t have much resistance left. “I saw the posts you made. Sierra told me that you reported it to the police.”

She gave me a small smile. “I made it just under the statute. Another two years and they wouldn’t have been able to prosecute him.”

“I’ll testify,” I said. “He was inappropriate with a lot of girls. I don’t know if it will help, but I’m willing.”

“You are?” She sounded surprised. “Thank you. I’ll let the district attorney know. But that’s not why I came over here today. I was just over at Mason’s house.”

Even though my heartbeat had calmed back down to normal, Bridget saying his name sent it back into overdrive, and I glanced down, half expecting to see my heart beat its way out of my chest.

“Oh?” I said.

“Savannah, I’ve tried hard to make things right between us. I hope you don’t mind, but Sierra told me about the article and how you and Mason broke up. I know I can’t go back in time and change the past, but I thought maybe I could fix your relationship with him now.”

My immediate instinct was to object, to tell her that there was no way that was possible, but I held my breath as I waited to hear what she’d say next.

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