“Just give me half an hour,” I plead, digging my nails into his wrists as he tries to pull away. “I’ll pack a bag and come with you.”
“Come with me?” he asks, his displeased frown falling away only to be replaced with an incredulous grin. “Why the fuck would you come with me?”
The cold laughter twined around his words freezes me in place. He yanks out of my grasp with an angry huff, turning his back on me as I struggle for words.
We said we weren’t going to date, that feelings weren’t going to be a part of this, but I can’t be the only one who felt the connection between us. The way he held me after he spanked me, the adoring quirk of his mouth when he smiled at me around the ranch, the way he was always so careful not to grip me too tight even when he pinned me against the wall—he has to feelsomethingfor me.
He can’t just leave me here like this.
That’s not what’s happening.
“What?” I finally manage to choke out.
Bennett already has the truck door open, keys in hand. He glances back at me like he’d forgotten I’m even here, and I see a flash of sadness and fear echoed in his eyes before they turn frigid again.
“I’m not going to be your ride out of trouble, Magnolia.” He laughs, the sound brittle and mean, shaking his head at me. “You were fucking me to piss your dad off. You got what you wanted. Congrats.”
Every word slams into me with the weight of a boulder, guilt and pain carving me open as Bennett climbs into the driver’s seat. I slam a hand against the doorjamb to stop him from closing it in my face, shoving the door back open.
“Bennett, that’s not—” I cut myself off, unsure of what to say. Anything that would change his mind feels too real, toohonest, but what else do I have? Do I tell him that I’ve never wantedanythingthis badly, that I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled than I am in his arms? Maybe it’s not what I had planned, but I could make things work. “Just let me explain, we?—”
“There is nowe,” he says with a bitter frown. “And I’m not taking you anywhere. You got yourself into this mess, get yourself out of it.”
He pries my hand off his trucks, still so gentle even though his words slice me straight to the core.
I stand there, shaking and terrified. My mind is blank, no ideas on how to fix any of this. Dad is pissed, Bennett’s leaving, and I can’t do anything about any of it. Is this really how it ends?
“Goodbye, Magnolia.”
The slam of the door echoes like a gunshot.
Bennett doesn’t look at me, his face stony and cold as he turns the key in the ignition. The sputter of the engine tears into me like vicious, unfeeling claws, and my breath clogs in my throat as Bennett’s truck lurches forward. The tires leave deep imprints in the soft soil, perfectly preserved trails of abandonment.
“No,” I whisper, ragged and achingly hollow. “Don’t…don’t?—”
My half formed pleas don’t mean anything. Bennett can’t hear them, halfway down the driveway with that stupid fucking trailer bouncing along behind him.
Dust billows in the late afternoon light, motes struck golden by the setting sun as I’m left behind.
Again.
Tears bleed down my face in lines of fire, my heart cracking and falling to pieces as Bennett turns out of the driveway and disappears. I sink to the ground, filth seeping in through theknees of my jeans. Dully, I think I probably won’t be able to get the stains out.
It doesn’t matter.
Nothing matters.
There’s nothing left to fix between us. There wasn’t ever anus. I have no clue what to do without him, no way to fix the rift between me and Dad. Everything backfired so spectacularly, I just lost everything in one fell swoop.
What’s left of my heart dissolves to nothing more than soot, the crackling embers of a fire burnt out too fast. It blows out of me on my shuddering exhales until it falls with the rest of the dust on the driveway, paving it with my sorrow.
And just like everything else I do, it doesn’t matter.
Chapter Sixteen
MAGGIE
The airof the exam room is cold, the paper covering on the table crinkling every time I so much as breathe. My arm aches beneath the bandage Dr. Mulaney applied to stop any bleeding after drawing a few vials of blood to run tests on.
