Page 123 of The Jealous Girl

A lump formed in my throat and I struggled to swallow.

He knew how much I wanted that. A family. Somewhere I belonged.

And now he was throwing it back at me. Like it was my fault that I didn’t have it.

‘You said you wanted this. Wanted us,’ I reminded him. ‘But you’ve been pulling away ever since we got back.’

Ryan sat up abruptly, flinging the sheet back. ‘I just need some space,’ he said as he stood.

‘Space?’ I blinked. ‘You had two years of space, Ryan. We only just got back together.’

He didn’t respond.

He grabbed his holdall from the wardrobe and dropped it on the bottom of the bed.

I jolted up, propping myself up on my elbow as I stared at him, stunned.

‘What are you doing?’

He still didn’t answer.

I lurched forward. ‘Ryan?’

‘It’s too much,’ he said, yanking clothes from their hangers and stuffing them into the bag.

Too much.

The words were like a heavy blow to my chest.

I knelt on the end of the bed, my mouth open, fighting for air. I stared at him, unable to speak.

What’s too much?

Us?

Me?

‘It’s just too much,’ he repeated as he disappeared into the en suite. Scraping and clattering followed.

I didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe.

Then he came back out, his toiletries bundled in his hands, and dropped them in the bag in stony silence.

‘You’re leaving?’ My voice was raspy and strained.

He zipped the holdall up.

‘You’re going back to the stables?’

‘Yes,’ he said without even glancing at me.

He looked like a stranger. His jaw tense, eyes hard. Contempt radiating from him, dark and angry. With me.

Why?

What had happened?