“Iknewthis was coming,” she cuts in, her voice brittle with hurt. “I knew you didn’t really want me. I told you I couldn’t do this if it was going to break me, and what did you do? Took what you wanted and now you’re tossing me aside like I’ve expired.”
She’s fiery and devastated all at once.
And she couldn’t be morewrong.
“You’re not listening,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady. “We can’t do this right now. I’m not saying I don’t want—”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” she snaps, cutting me off. “If you didn’t want to fuck me, you wouldn’t have. But you did, didn’t you? You took exactly what you wanted.”
Her voice cracks, but she powers through it, eyes blazing.
“How could you? After I told you I didn’t want to get hurt? This—” she gestures between us, sharp and final, “—might not mean anything to you. But to me? It meanteverything.”
Past tense. Already.
She’s rewriting us in real time, turning it into a mistake before I can explain. And if she’d just stop—just listen—she’d understand I’m not walking away.
I’m trying to protect her.
Even if it means breaking both of us to do it.
She tries to push past me, but I catch her arm—firm, not forceful—refusing to let her walk away from this without hearing me out.
“Nell, you need to listen to me. I still want you.”
She scoffs, eyes flashing. “Just notnow, right? The timing’s not convenient for you.”
It’s not that simple. Not even close. But she’s already building her wall, brick by brick.
“Don’t worry,” she says, voice brittle. “I’ve heard it all before. Thanks for confirming exactly what I was afraid of. Touché—you got what you wanted.”
She yanks her arm free, and I let her, for now.
She’s angry. Hurt. She needs space to breathe, to cool down. But she’ll understand. She has to.
Because I’m not letting her go.
This—pushing her away—is the last thing I want. But it’s the only way to keep her safe. And when this is over, when the dust finally settles, I want nothing more than to wake up every damn morning with her tangled in my sheets and her name on my lips.
This is a necessary evil.
But she’s the endgame.
33
Nell
“Where are you going?” Cameron calls after me, like I’d tell him anything now.
He did the one thing I begged him not to. Took what he wanted and tossed me aside like it meant nothing.
And maybe it didn’t.
Maybe I was never going to be enough for him—not after her. Not after his wife.
Jesus… even after last night, I was ready to give up everything for this man.
What the hell is wrong with me?
