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“Go away, Holden.”
He pulls back as if he’s been burned, but doesn’t let up. “Please. We need to talk about this.”
I roll my eyes. “I don’t need to do anything except get ready for work. Just go.”
“Will you come home after?”
My breath hitches at the sound of his place being my home. No, that’s his home, not yours.
“I am home.”
He closes his e
yes and takes a deep breath before nodding. When he looks at me again, I don’t miss the tear that slides down his cheek.
“Okay. Well, I’m sorry, and when you’re ready, I hope you’ll come talk to me.”
Holden walks backwards to the door, watching me with every step he takes until he must turn around.
“Do you feel anything? Breaking girls’ hearts like it’s your job. Don’t you have a conscience?” Bree asks with venom in her tone.
He doesn’t answer, instead taking one last look at me before leaving the room. As soon as he’s gone, I break into pieces again – sobbing into my pillow. Brianna doesn’t do much except rub my back and ask me if I need anything. She knows there isn’t much she can do, having been in this spot before. I must admit though, I’m glad she’s here.
After throwing a self-pity party for an hour, I finally force myself up and into the shower. I have a shift to work today and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Holden Rivers ruin anything else for me.
I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN he would come here. If I wasn’t on a shift with Dawson, I wouldn’t know what to do. Thankfully, as soon as he saw him walk through the door, he switched places with me – making it so I wouldn’t have to talk to him.
“Holden, you need to leave.” Dawson tells him.
He exhales, clearly getting frustrated. “I just need to talk to her.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
I do my best to avoid eye contact with him. The last thing I need, is to start crying in the middle of a crowded coffee house.
“She needs to know what happened. Did you tell her what happened?!”
“No. I haven’t had a chance, but you’re not doing any good by being here.”
What the hell are they talking about? What happened?
“I want her to tell me to leave. If she tells me to leave, I’ll leave.”
Dawson sighs, coming over to me and placing his hand on my shoulder. “What do you want to do?”
I take a deep breath and walk over to the counter. Looking up at him, I immediately feel the rush of emotions I was trying to avoid. It’s overwhelming. His eyes are pleading for me to listen. Still, we’re in public and this is not the place for this conversation.
“Kayleigh.” He whispers my name like a prayer.
I swallow, holding myself together by a thread. “You need to leave, Holden.” The words physically pain me to say. “I want you to leave.”
He looks as if he’s just as distraught as I am, standing there staring back at me – not moving an inch. For a minute, I begin to wonder if I’m overreacting. We aren’t dating, so do I really have a right to be mad?
Our agreement plays in my head. “Okay. No kissing other people. That’s fine.”
Yeah, I do.
“Please. Just leave.” I repeat in hushed tones, afraid if I speak any louder, I’ll break.
