AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Distantly, under the anger roaring in my veins, filling my ears, I hear Nolan turn off the truck and scramble out of the cab after me.
“Skyler!”
I whirl around, throwing my hands out. “What?” I shout.
He stumbles back a step, shock widening his glittering eyes.
“What more is there to say? I’ll never be seen as anything but a helpless, impressionable kid to you. You’ve made that very clear.” Shaking my head, I wrinkle up my nose, and cross my arms, looking away.
“But you were. You were a kid,” he says tightly.
“No. I wasn’t.” My neck strains, tendons threatening to a snap. I stomp toward him and shove him in the chest.
“But you were,” he whispers, agony shining bright from his eyes.
I shake my head. “I was eighteen.”
He swallows thickly. “Barely. Eighteen is still a kid. A teenager.”
I stare at him.
He stares back.
“So that’s it then?” I say roughly, hating the way my voice breaks. “You’re just gonna…never let it go. You’re just gonna let this guilt eat at you for the rest of your life, stripping you of anything good? And not just you, but me.”
He watches me, his scruffy jaw quivering.
“Because that’s what you did. What you’re doing now,” I tell him. “This isn’t just about you.” My face bunches, tears rushing to my eyes. “Yeah, I was eighteen. But I’m not anymore, and guess fucking what? You were wrong. You were so fucking wrong. And you wasted overthreeyears.”
“Sky,” he breathes, reaching for me.
I bat him away and jab him in the chest with my finger, right above his heart. “Youpromised.And you lied. You said you wouldn’t regret it or ruin it. You promised me I’d forget. That I’d move on.” My teeth start chattering, and I can’t be sure if it’s from the cold or the storm igniting my senses. “But you lied. You broke your promise, just like I said you would, and now you’re tainting the memory too.”
His eyes water, and he’s shaking his head.
“I didn’t move on. I didn’t fucking forget. I’m still there.” I jab him again in the chest. “I’m still there and I never left!” I scream.
A single tear spills over his lashes, sliding down his cheek, disappearing into his beard.
“You took the choice away from me.”
He shakes his head, but in his eyes I see it. That’s exactly what he did.
“I trusted you. I trusted you to be different than everybody else.”
Dropping my hand, I try to spin around, but he doesn’t let me. He wraps his arms around me, burying his face in my neck.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m so sorry.”
Sniffing, I shake my head, spilling tears into his thick coat. Arms crushed against my sides. “You can’t do that. I told you you can’t do that.”
“I remember.”
“But you forgot.”
He nods. “I just…I don’t feel like I deserve you. I don’t want you to resent me one day. It’d kill me.”
I slide my eyes shut. “You don’t know that. And it’s not for you to decide what’s best for me. You get that right? It was never up to you.”
