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It’s warm and quiet, the fan on my desk creating a perfect atmosphere for sleep. I’m about to doze off when a loud bang sounds from the other side of my wall.
My eyes fly open.
“Shit! Sorry!” Ev calls from her room. I groan and bury my face in my pillow.
Fuck, I’m wide awake now.
It’s not long before thoughts creep in, like they always do. The overthinker in me doesn’t like to be silenced, even if I still desperately need sleep.
The memories of last night rush in.
Alex being a jerk. Alex with some girl all over him.
Rhett coming in to save the day.
Rhett, who I never knew could be so sweet, so fun to be around, so…
Shit. He saw me crying. A blubbering mess. Ugh, how embarrassing. But the funny part about it all? He didn’t care.
I wonder what he was going to say before he cut himself off. Was he going to say something about Alex and me? Does he know something I don’t? Or does he see what I desperately keep trying to ignore?
You don’t deserve to be treated this way.
What I don’t understand is how we even got here. When we met this past summer, it was love at first sight. Well, for me anyway. He praised me, loved on me, made me feel like a queen, took me here, took me there, and we spent every waking second together. Then classes started, and he slowly grew cold, distant, and critical.
I tried to ignore it, pretend everything was the same, and maybe just our honeymoon phase was over. But shouldn’t it last at least a few months and not just one?
And now here I am. In love with a man I don’t recognize anymore.
Tears slip down my cheeks, and I hastily wipe them away. Maybe he’s going through something he isn’t telling me about. Maybe we should take a break from each other. I don’t know, honestly, but what I do know is my heart is breaking.
My first real boyfriend, the first boy I truly opened my heart up to, and now he stomps all over it and says horrible things no girl should have to hear.
All I’ve ever wanted is love. It’s hard growing up without a family. Being in the system your entire childhood feels like one big roller-coaster ride, with so many twists and turns, it’s one big fucked-up mess.
After a couple of disastrous foster homes, I stayed in the orphanage until I graduated from high school. Friends, other orphans, and social workers all come and go in waves. I learned to stay guarded—friendly to all but close to none.
Sierra Cove was a fresh beginning, a new start to my new adult life. And so far, it’s exceeded my expectations.
But have I yet to really get close with anyone? No.
Until Alex.
He broke down so many of my walls that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to reconstruct them.
I hear a buzz from underneath my pillow. I pull my phone out and see a couple of texts from Alex. It’s only eight thirty, way too early to even be awake. Another text rolls in. And another.
Alex: I’m sorry for being a jerk.
Alex: I love you.
Alex: I’ll make it up to you. I’ll pick you up at twelve today for lunch
Alex: Your favorite place…okay?
I smile and wipe the last tear away.
And just like that, I’m under his spell again.
