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“We’re the same age—”
He cuts me off, “It’s different.” He rises to his feet, grabs dry clothes, and hands me a shirt. “Get out of those wet clothes.”
I pull my shirt over my head while sniffling before giving it to his hand he has held out. “Oh my God, I’m getting your bed wet.” The realization hits me.
“You’re cool.” He hands me the bottoms next.
I undress underneath the blanket, changing into the dry clothes, and he slides into bed when I’m finished. Some of my sadness wears down when he wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head.
“Everything is okay. You’ll be okay. You’re strong.”
I whisper my confessions to him.
How I met James.
How we hit it off and secretly dated.
How I found out he had been doing the same with Margie.
I don’t tell him about us getting married … or how James will always have the upper hand with me.
* * *
I drop out of college.
No one, except Rex, knows why.
I’m terrified of my parents’ reaction.
Rex and Josh moved my things out of the dorm, and I haven’t talked to Margie since the day she told me she was sleeping with James. I feel terrible, but I can’t be around her without feeling guilt, without getting us in trouble.
He has dirt on us both.
I poured bleach on the phone James had bought me and then tossed it in the trash can.
All of this to get rid of him.
It’s not that easy.
He knows my regular phone number. It’s what we talked on until things grew serious.
I move back home to get as far away from James as possible.
There will be space between us, and maybe he’ll forget about me and find someone new.
James thinks I’ll come back to him because if I don’t, he can ruin me.
24
Rex
“Can you repeat that?”I ask, unsure I heard her correctly as my jaw falls slack. “Did you say, you’remarriedto that asshole?”
My head is spinning as I digest her words.
Her gaze drops to the floor when she nods.
Certain I’m mistaken, I ask again, “You married him?”
