AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He hurt my baby. He can be left to go full human popsicle, for all I care. I turn away from the windows—
“Sissy.”
My insides clench, but I force myself to look at my sister.
At another person who doesn’t matter because she’s shown that I don’t matter to her over and over andoveragain.
I lift a brow as I turn to face her.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Laughter bubbles up in me. “So you were fucking my boyfriend as what? A favor to me?”
Her bottom lip immediately slides out into a pout.
Same shit. Different day.
Only…I’m tired. “Look,” I say. “You hurt me. A lot, but”—I sigh—“you did me a favor. George is clearly a jerk and—”
“Yes.” She nods rapidly, playing bobblehead. “George istotallya jerk and—”
“And you are too.”
Ashley rocks back, shock on her face.
“This surprises you?” I ask.
“It’s always been the two of us,” she says.
“No.” I shake my head and bite back another sigh. “It’s always been you, Ash. What you want and need. I haven’t let myself factor into our relationship in years, maybe not ever.”
“Mom and Dad left—”
“Yeah,” I say. “They left. But they leftmetoo, and that also hurt me. And, Christ, it’s not just about you and your feelings all the time, Ash. I—” I sigh. “Youhurt me, not just a couple of times, not just a few days ago, buttoomany times over the years.” I shove a hand through my hair, strive to stay calm. “I’m done, babe.”
“I didn’tmeanto hurt you.”
I study her closely. “Didn’t you?”
She flinches, but there’s something in her expression, in the way she lifts her chin. She’s sorry, yeah, but mostly, I think she’s sorry she got caught.
She’s sorry I’m distancing myself so I’m not an easy target.
She’s sorry—
I sigh. It doesn’t matter. I can barely look at her, let alone think about having her in my life at this moment. “You’ve never cared when you hurt me before,” I say, hating the cynicism that’s filled me, but knowing it’s there for a reason.
Because I’ve allowed her to treat me like this.
Let it go. Look forward. It doesn’t matter.
Only…sometimes it does.
I shake those thoughts from my mind. “Why did you really light a fire under George’s butt to get him to bring you up here?”
Ashley doesn’t have a car.
She usually borrows mine because I rarely need it. I can—could—walk to work, the grocery store, my favorite restaurants.
