Page 48 of Bachelor

Chapter Sixteen

Rhys

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WHITNEY LANDED IN Aheap of snow, her skis flying in two different directions. I hurried to her, unclipping my bindings, and pulled her upright. “Whitney—”

“I’m fine!” She swatted me away. Snow covered her face, freezing to her wet eyelashes. “I’m fine Rhys, just leave me alone!”

I backed away from her as she hobbled over to her skis. She sniffled as she snapped them onto her boots and fisted her poles.

“You landed pretty hard, Whit,” I said with caution.

She gave me a death glare over her shoulder, her eyes misting with tears. “Why do you even care?”

“Are you serious?” I snapped, losing my patience. “I just watched you roll over twenty feet down the side of a mountain—”

“I loved you, Rhys!” she yelled, the words hanging in the still, bitter air between us. She sucked in a breath, squeezing her eyes shut as she continued, “I did. I really did. I loved you, and I would have thrown it all away to be with you. I would’ve packed up my stuff and left Gatlington if it meant we could be together. And you—you left me that note asking me to meet you at the airport. I thought—I thought you were going to ask me to come with you, Rhys.”

My heart sank deep into my chest. “Whitney—”

“Don’t!” she snapped, pointing one of her poles at me. “I drove all the way out there. I was so happy that I’d get to see you again, that maybe we could make this work, maybe you’d listen to me when I told you I’d apply to other graduate programs somewhere else so you wouldn’t lose your job. And then you just said we couldn’t do it, and that was that. You made up your mind and now, all of a sudden, you regret what happened between us?”

“I would have never let you give up on your future for me—”

“That’s my decision to make!” Her eyes narrowed into cat-like slits. “I’m so sick of everyone bossing me around and putting heavy expectations on my back thinking I won’t break. I’m sick and tired of not having a say. I would have left school to be with you. That’s the truth. And every day I’m in your presence it rips me to shreds, Rhys. Why are you making things so hard on me now?”

I had nothing to say. There was nothing I could say to make this right.

“I messed up—”

“You already said that!”

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, walking toward her. “Do you want me to say that I didn’t feel the same way that you did? That I didn’t love you, and that you were just a good time, someone to pass the time? Is that what you want to hear? Would that make it easier? Or do you want the truth, Whitney?”

She clamped her lips shut, her cheeks burning red with fury.

I continued, closing the distance between us, “I loved you more than anything. I spent every day back home regretting not throwing you over my shoulder and taking you with me. I would have run away with you in a heartbeat, but we both know this situation would have followed us everywhere we went. Not just Gatlington, Whitney, but your parents and Christian.”

“I don’t care about that—”

“I do. I care about your future. And ten years from now, you’d regret giving all of this up for me. I guarantee it.”

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