Page 82 of Chasing Lyric
“There isnoright time to tell someone you’ve been l-lying to them.” My voice breaks. My whole body breaks. I shove him again and again, until Rory tries to pull me back.
People are staring.
The room spins, my ears ring, and the pain in my chest is unbearable. “I’m so fucking stupid,” I whisper to no one.
Chase’s face falls, his entire demeanor screams of guilt, or is that wrecked? I can’t tell. And I don’t care. “Lyri, don’t do this. Please.I’m begging you. Don’t walk away from me. Don’t let this be the end.”
But it already is.
I turn to his asshole father. “You can take your production company and shove it. And as for you—” I look Chase dead inthe eyes. “You’renotmy Hallmark hero. You’re a lie. A fraud. A fucking fantasy.”
He grabs my elbow as I turn, but I spin back and slap him hard across the face. The sound is deafening, my hand throbbing with the force of the slap.
He freezes, stunned. Tears glistening in his eyes.
“Don’t youevercome near me again!”
“Lyri,” he rasps, his tone defeated. “I wasn’t lying when I told you I love you.”
I stare into his broken gaze. My voice is a whisper, “Beetlejuice.”
He flinches as if I slapped him again.
He knows what that word means.
Our safe word.
Our end.
We’re over.
I rip myself free and storm toward the door. Rory’s hand slides into mine, grounding me as I internally fall apart. My chest feels caved in, my ribs splintered under the weight of grief. Outside, the air bites at my skin, but I don’t feel it.
I feel nothing.
We slide into the first cab that pulls up. I don’t speak. I can’t.
Through the rear window, I see Chase standing in the doorway, staring after me like he’s just lost the only thing that ever mattered.
And maybe he has.
But so have I.
Rory leans in, wrapping her arm around me for the comfort I so desperately need. “I’m so sorry, Lyri.”
And I finally let myself go. I crumble into her arms. My tears come fast, hard, in an uncontrollable flood. My sobs are shaking my entire body. “He s-said he l-loved me,” I choke out as the cab pulls away from the bar.
Fromhim.
From everything we could have ever been.
I feel like my soul has been split in two.
Goodbye, Hallmark.
This is more like a straight-to-DVD disaster movie.
Chapter Sixteen
