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“You looked at me,” she croaks, her voice barely louder than a whisper
“What?” I frown in confusion.
“You looked at me! You lifted your head and looked right at me. While Hadley was—” She pauses and drops her head, sobs racking through her body, and unable to hold back, I reach out for her.
Her eyes dart up, and she knocks away my hand. “Don’t,” she warns. “Don’t touch me.”
“Ava. Please,” I beg, my throat growing thick. “I swear to you, I honestly don’t remember what happened.”
She huffs, rolling her eyes and aggressively wiping away the tears. “So that makes it okay then? You don’t remember having sex with her, so it doesn’t count?”
“I didn’t say that. I just—” I pause, taking a deep breath as a wave of nausea rolls through me. “I would have never slept with her willingly.”
Her eyebrows rise. “So she raped you then?”
“No… I don’t know… fuck! It’s all a blur.”
“I don’t know what to think of this.” She turns away from me, shaking her head. “I don’t know how to process it, but even if I could make sense of it somehow, cheating is a deal breaker for me, Mason.”
“I know, but I would never cheat on you.”
“But you did.” Her voice cracks and she looks down to the ground, “S-she touched you.”
“I—” I can’t deny it. Hadley told me we did, and with my memory of last night being shot to shit, my only option is to believe her.
“You need to leave.” She makes toward the door, the finality in her tone making my stomach clench.
This is it. She is ending us.
“Baby, please no,” I croak out in a desperate plea. I grab hold of her arm, but she rips it away.
“Don’t fucking touch me!”
“Please. Don’t do this,” I beg, devastation ripping me apart at the seams. “I can fix this. Please give me a chance.”
Ignoring my desperate plea, she opens the door and steps inside, slamming the door shut so hard the ear-splitting sound perforates through me like a gunshot, hitting me square in the chest and shattering my heart into a million pieces. My stomach rolls, the sudden onset of nausea so severe I can no longer hold it back. Staggering down the porch steps, I empty the entire contents of my stomach onto the grass, my whole body heaving with its violent assault.
Feeling it subside, I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and head to my truck, the harsh burn in the back of my throat making me wince as I get in and close the door. Resting my head on the steering wheel, I blink back tears and intake shuddering breaths.
I don’t want to leave, but I don’t know what else to do. All I’ve ever wanted was her, and I’ve fucked everything up so badly there is no coming back.
I’ve lost her, but the worst part of it is, I’ve hurt her.
ChapterTwenty-Eight
AVA
Aloud bang echoes through the house, and I jolt upright in my bed, looking around my room in confusion. Thinking maybe it was a dream, I lie back down and close my eyes only to hear it again, except this time it is followed by the distinct sound of people shouting. Jumping out of bed, I race downstairs and head in the direction of the commotion. As I enter the kitchen, a cup comes flying across the room and hits the fridge, shattering in several pieces and hitting the floor.
“I’m not going!” my mother screams, her face contorted with rage as she glares at my father, who stands on the other side of the island bench.
“Would you calm down?” he grates, only fueling her anger further and making her face turn a shade of red I have never seen before.
“Are you kidding me? You—” She pauses when her eyes land on mine, and following her gaze, my father turns to look at me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, looking around the kitchen at the broken glass scattered all over the floor.
“Well, your father here is trying to send me away to California.” My mother puts her hands on her hips, giving my father a pointed look.
