“Luke….”
“I need you to be perfectly fucking honest with me,” he snaps. “If we’re trading secrets, you don’t get to be chintzy with yours.”
I sigh, shaking my head. “No. My mom didn’t give it to me. I bought it specifically for you while I was in Florida seeing her.”
Luke laughs humorlessly before his brows furrow as if I’ve confirmed his worst nightmare.
“But what’s wrong with that?” I protest. “You needed a car while you were here. I was just trying to help you out. And you asked that we don’t talk about money.”
“That’s not the point, Ethan. That’s never been the point. You don’t considermyfeelingsbefore you go off and make these kinds of big decisionsfor me. You swoop in to save the day before you’ve even asked if I want to be saved.”
“Oh, god. Put your pride away for two fucking seconds, will you?” I snap without thinking.
Luke freezes, cutting me the sharpest glare I’ve ever been on the receiving end of, his eyes narrowing. “Excuseme?”
I know I should keep my mouth shut, but the door is open, the words erupting from me like a volcano. “I understand you don’t like it when people try to help you, Luke. I really do. I’ve been fighting you on that since the day we met. But just because you’re shit at allowing anyone to care about you, and god-fucking-forbid they do, it doesn’t make it wrong for mewantingto help.”
“Fuck off.”
“You know I’m right.”Jesus, why did you say that?
“You don’t know me well enough to make that kind of judgment call,” Luke hisses between clenched teeth. “You’ve known me for three months, Ethan.Three. Months.And maybe that was three months longer than you should have.”
“You think so?” I ask.Stop it! What’s wrong with you?
“It would have been better off if we’d never met.”
My heart jolts in my chest, my brows furrowing. “You don’t mean that.”
Luke wipes the tears from his face and turns his back to me, sighing resolutely. “I can’t do this anymore, Ethan. It’s too much for me to handle. I’m done.”
“What do you mean ‘done?’”
“I’m done.We’redone.”
“So, what… You’re breaking up with me?” I ask, feeling how my blood turns to ice in my veins, my heart cracking around the edges. “Just like that? You won’t even give me a chance to explain?”
Without facing me, Luke drops his head, his shoulders shaking. “We don’t work. We’ll never work. And I’m done pretending.”
“Jesus fucking Christ, Luke. You can’t be serious. After all this, you’re just going to walk away?” Blood rushes in my ears, the world constricting around me.
Luke doesn’t answer me. He’s as rigid as a statue, fists clenched at his side.
“At least have the fucking guts to look at me and tell me to my face,” I snap.
Suddenly, a shift takes over like a switch has been flipped, and Luke relaxes his shoulders. It’s like watching him morph into an entirely different person, donning a different character. “Take care of Misty for me,” he replies, his voice eerily low.
Without another word, he turns and brushes past me without a glance. His face is a stoic mask, devoid of any emotion. He goes through the garage door, leaving me standing frozen like a statue in the kitchen, staring after him, numb and paralyzed. I can’t tell if I’m still breathing—if my heart’s still beating. I don’t even register that I’m crying until I feel the tears on my cheeks.
What the fuck just happened?
Chapter Forty-Two
The Closet Is Made of Glass
Theworldmovesbyme in a blur, and I stumble around without any cognitive awareness that I’m doing it. Don’t ask me what day it is. Don’t ask me what the weather looks like outside. I can’t even force myself to get out of bed most of the time.
Vaguely, I’m aware of how often I try to call Luke with no response. I memorize the sound of his voicemail greeting and the chipper way he tells me to leave a message and he’ll call me back.Fucking liar. He never calls me back.
