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I inhale deeply, exhaling a staggered breath. “And the silly part of me thought maybe…” I hiccup, choking on my emotions, “just maybe, once I confessed how I felt, you would reciprocate. Ease my worries and tell me you loved me too. That our nights together were more than just sex for you. But I guess I was wrong.”
He still doesn’t move, and my sadness morphs into anger. “Fucking say something, dammit!” I yell, unable to take his silence any longer. “Be a man. Tell me you want me or set me loose. Stop being a fucking coward!”
He advances, and before I have time to react, he grabs hold of my bicep. There’s an angry storm brewing behind his dark eyes. He pushes me back against the wall, his threatening stare cold and rigid, momentarily making me regret my words. “You think this is a game, Hazel? That I just confess my love, and we ride off into the sunset? You think this ends with us happy?” he hisses, his breath hitting my face. “That’s where you’re wrong. Where you’re ignorant in thinking this is your happily ever after. This is our ending.”
I barely see him through the tears pouring down my face. “Answer me,” he growls. I try, but my words are lodged in my throat. He shakes me, demanding, “Answer me! How do you possibly think this ends when I tell your father about us? How. Does. This. End?” His voice is raised. I fight to catch my breath as I cry—for the way he’s speaking to me, and the way he talks down to me as if I’m nothing to him—as if I didn’t just confess I’m in love with him.
“Let me go,” I cry.
“No. Answer me.” He shakes me again. “Answer me! Dammit, answer me! Stop being so damn foolish, Hazel! You want something that cannot happen. We’re done if Heath finds out. End of story. So, you choose.” A raging sea of anger brews in his smoldering gaze as he waits for me to answer. My chest pounds. My tears fall. My heart shatters. I love him with everything inside me. But I deserve better. I deserve to be noticed. I deserve to not be someone’s secret.
He must sense the resolution in my eyes because he suddenly releases me and steps away.
I inhale deeply until I find the courage buried under the wreckage of my emotions. “You’re right. I understand now.” I wipe at my tears, finding solace in my decision. “Goodbye, Gabriel.”
His eyes shine with shock. Maybe mine do as well. This wasn’t where I saw this going. I can’t imagine him no longer in my life, but I can’t be what he wants. If I am, it will end up killing me when he gets bored of me and sets me free. He doesn’t say another word, guarding his emotions with a blank stare.
I slide away from the wall and walk back to the room. Gathering my clothes, I redress and walk out of his house, and his life, leaving my heart in a massacred pile at his feet.HazelI never planned on falling in love with a man like Gabriel Walker. A man who could never be mine. The fairytales always have a way of making you feel like it all works out in the end. Love is love. It’s an infinite resolution as long as you believe. If two people really are bound to one another, anything is possible. From the start, all the odds were against us. We were an obstacle not meant to be conquered. Gabriel let me walk out of his house that night. He didn’t come after me and make me stay and work it out. He didn’t bother to call me in hopes of reconciling our dispute. He didn’t call to confess that he felt the same way and would do what it took to be with me. He just let me leave.
The drive back home was a blur.
The explanation I gave Violet and my dad was barely believable. I showed up at my nanny position no longer needed. Which wasn’t entirely a lie. I broke down, blaming my emotions on needing the money, even though my dad is filthy rich and I will never want for anything. I asked to be alone and spent the rest of the night drowning in my own tears.
The rest of the break was just as foggy, and I numbly worked my way through each day. My dad looked worried, and Violet was even more suspicious. She knew something was going on. She recognized heartache after going through this with my dad. I ached to tell her and finally have someone to confide in. But why bother now? He doesn’t want anything more from me.
Therefore, I’m done.
After an argument with my dad, he finally let me go back to school a few days early. Violet tried to go with me, but he wasn’t having that. I needed to be away from him. And the farther away I was, the easier it would be for me to heal. That’s what I told myself anyway.
