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I’m angry that he manages to pull such emotion out of me. The pain in my chest throbs, a pulsing ache that makes it hard for me to breathe without my throat catching on falling sobs.
I finally come to a stop, my palm pressed against a cold stone wall, my top half bent at the waist as I fight to draw air into my lungs.
I’m devastated by his betrayal. I despise him for making me think he was different when he so clearly is like everyone else who hurt me. I look up, still gasping for air, and more tears fall down my cheeks when I realize where I am.
Where I unknowingly ran to.
Our hotel.
My eyes close as more pain rips through me. I push it away, trying to keep it from reaching my heart. The effort is exhausting. Of course I came here. The irony of coming to a place where Tristan made me feel safer than I have in my life when I’m fresh from his betrayal is not lost on me.
I stumble into the lobby and walk up to the front desk with my head bowed. A mumbled request is made for the penthouse suite as I place my black AmEx on the counter. Moments later, I’m handed an equally black keycard and instructed to take the lift up to the top floor.
It’s when I’m in the very same elevator where Tristan and I had our first kiss that I text him and break it off for good.
Me:No, I’m done. This thing between us is over.
Me:I don’t want to speak to you again outside of class. I hope you can keep it professional.
I make sure the messages are marked as delivered before I power off my phone.
The doors open on the penthouse in the same breath and I walk in.
I head straight for the bedroom and let myself fall on the mattress. I don’t take off my expensive dress. I pull the covers back and get underneath. I close them around me, bringing them up to right under my jaw, and fall into a fitful sleep marked by tears and bad dreams.
???
Chapter 37
Tristan
“You’re a hard man to track down, Tristan,” someone calls from behind me as I put my key in my front door.
“Fuck me,” I jump, startled, then surprised by the voice.
I recognize it immediately. There’s no way its owner is standing behind me right now though.
I turn around and sure enough, Tessisstanding there with a huge grin stamped on her face.
“Holy shit,” I exclaim, jumping down the stairs and embracing her in a hug. I nearly clothesline her in my excitement and have to catch her before she falls. Her happy laugh is muffled against my chest but bursts forth from her lips when I push her at arm’s length. “What the hell are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?”
I can’t believe she’s here. I haven’t seen or spoken to her in months, not since that night we spoke on the phone right before I met Nera. I’d broken most of the rules my father had laid out for me, but not the one that said I couldn’t speak to her or my mother. I was afraid that he’d find out since it’d be happening right under his nose, and that his ensuing punishment of them would be swift and brutal.
“I’m happy to see you too,” she says, still laughing.
“Seriously, what are you doing here? Why did you risk it? Where does the tyrant think you are? How’s mum?” I ask, firing off rapid fire questions at her.
She puts her hand up as if to stop me.
“Let’s go to dinner and we can talk. I’ll answer your questions then, okay?”
Shit, I’m supposed to meet up with Nera tonight. I so badly want to introduce her to Tess – I know they’d get along so well – but I can’t. I haven’t let myself think about the future with Nera, not beyond what we’re doing each day, because that would mean acknowledging the fact that I’m lying to her. That I’ve lied to her every day that we’ve been together.
There is no path forward without her by my side, I just don’t know how to get myself out of my current predicament without risking losing her forever.
I text her and suggest meeting up later tonight, then put my phone back in my jacket pocket.
“Let me guess, you’re going to want Italian food?” I ask her.
