Page 65 of The Rules We Broke
And for the first time in a long time, I didn’t think.
I forgot that breathing was necessary. Forgot I was standing in a hospital parking lot. Forgot the reasons I’d locked my heart away.
His lips moved over mine, coaxing me to let him deepen the kiss.
It didn’t take much.
Our tongues fell into a familiar rhythm—one we’d perfected once upon a time. One I’d missed every day since.
I clutched his coat, grounding myself in the warmth of him. His hands framed my face—urgent, reverent—as if trying to memorize me in one breath.
Tasting him was better than sunshine. Better than air. Better than memory.
And it shattered me.
The tears came—fast and unexpected. A flood of everything I’d buried. I pulled away, shaking—not from the cold, but from the ache.
Brady tried to take me back into his arms, but I stepped back.
“I can’t do this, Brady.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Does it matter?”
He cupped my elbow gently, refusing to let me slip away without answer. “Yes, Ellie. It matters. Just tell me why. But don’t tell me it’s because of the rules. You and I both know those don’t matter anymore.”
That was it. He was going to hear me out.
“Oh, really, Brady Jackson? I guess the rules only matter when it’s convenient for you. When they give you permission to leave me and break every promise you ever made.”
He tried to speak, but I wasn’t done. Not after ten years. The floodgates were wide open.
“After you broke up with me because of the rules, I thought it was temporary. I believed we’d go back to school and figure it out—together, like we always did. But instead, you were with her. And now I find out you took someone’s word—her word — that I was seeing someone behind your back.”
“It wasn’t her,” he said, voice low.
“I don’t care who it was! How could you not know me better than that?”
I didn’t give him space to reply. I couldn’t.
“Not only were you with her, but you also acted like I didn’t exist. Do you even know what that did to me? I tried to go away, to forget, to heal—but I couldn’t. Because you were everywhere. She was everywhere. And I couldn’t stop loving you even when you stopped remembering I existed.”
I could see him flinch, but I kept going.
“I watched you get engaged. To her. I was watching the game when you got hurt, and I cried. Not because you were gone, but because I still loved you—and I knew your NFL dream had died. I hated that. I hated that I still cared even though you couldn’t have cared less about me.”
My voice was breaking, but the weight inside me was lifting.
“And no matter how many times I’ve tried to move on, I haven’t been able to. So don’t tell me the rules don’t matter. Youwant another chance—but I’m still an Eaton, and your parents still hate me. Isawit in their eyes yesterday. And your daddy doesn’t look well . . . so will you use that as an excuse the next time you want to leave me?”
Brady looked stunned. But he said nothing.
And although I was still shaking and crying, I felt lighter. Maybe I should’ve said all that years ago.
I’d never told anyone those things. Even back then, I mostly cried alone in my room. Sometimes Aunt Lu heard me and came in to hold me like a child. But mostly—I grieved in silence.
Now we stood in it, both breathless.
