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“Yes, you are! I don’t want you anymore!” he roars, narrowing his eyes at me like I’m some sort of evil supervillain. “Don’t you see? This was all a big mistake! Everything I’ve ever worked for has been ruined because ofyou!”
My heart stops as I feel all the blood drain from my face. “You…you don’t mean that.”
“You’ve corrupted me! Sullied me! Damned me to hell!”
“You don’t mean that either.” I take a deep breath and try to calm my twisting stomach. Jarred is just shocked. He’s just been through a traumatic event. He has so much anger and he’s taking it out on me. “Babe, what we have is beautiful. What we have is—”
“Is disgusting!” he shouts, throwing a glass against the wall where it shatters with a crunching groan. “You were a manipulative demon that was sent to test me, and I failed! It’s an abomination!You, Noah, are an abomination!”
I step back as if he’s punched me. His words slice through my heart. They shatter me just like the glass against the wall. This isn’t happening. Just this morning, we were happy. We were happy and in love and meeting his kids and working toward a future.
And Bryce has ruined that all.
“I love you, Jarred. Please, don’t do this to us,” I plead, going against my better judgment and hugging him. “Please. Please, see that.”
He pushes me away from him so hard that I nearly fall to the ground. When he looks down at me, all I see is hatred. It’s not the kind of repulsion that can be faked. He truly believes I did this to him. He truly believes everything he’s said. His fists are clenched, his upper lip is curled in a snarl, and those once beautiful eyes are dark with vengeance.
He turns his back on me. “I’ll be praying for you, Noah.”
“Jarred—”
“Leave!”
And I do because I can’t take another second of this. I leave his cabin, tears streaming down my face, snot pouring out of my nose, and my heart breaking over and over again at his words.
Because Jarred chose God over me.
CHAPTER28
JARRED
Over half of the campers have left. I’ve been told that the camp is a ghost of what it used to be. Not that I know. I haven’t left my cabin in a week.
Father Matteo has stopped by. He told me he tried to explain to the parents what happened, but the damage had already been done. Everything that I’ve worked for my entire life is gone. Camp Trinity is over.
Mary told me Bryce was the one behind the tape, that Kendall confirmed it when she and Patrick cornered him, but I don’t know what happened with him. I don’t care.
I’ve been broken. Beaten. Buried.
I’m done.
“Dad?”
I look over at Mary who’s holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. “Maybe you should have some coffee?”
I take another swig of the vodka I had stored from a long time ago when I tried using alcohol to drown the demons out. “I don’t want to talk, Mary.”
“You haven’t come out of here since…” Parker doesn’t finish his sentence. “Dad, this isn’t healthy.”
They should go home. They’ve put their lives on hold for me, and they shouldn’t. Mary and Parker told me that they knew about Noah before the video. They’ve told me that they’re okay with it, that they encourage my happiness, that God had nothing to do with what happened, but I’m not sure I believe them.
I’m a rotten soul. Not only for what I did to this camp but for what I did to Noah.
Beautiful, perfect Noah. He’s gone. Mary confirmed that when I broke two days ago and asked about him. I regret everything that happened between us—not the love, not the sex, not the joy—but the things I said to him, the way I acted, and the things I made him believe.
The things I said to him…
I deserve to be punished for that too.
