Page 90 of Wright Kind of Trouble

I jerked backward in shock. My mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Do you understand? I would have walked right up to your family who hates me and told them we were together. I’d have gone to bat for us before this.”

I had no words. There was nothing to say to that. Because that hadn’t even remotely seemed like a possibility this summer. We were so far from that, that even hearing him say the words was a shock to my system.

“No you wouldn’t have.”

He blew out a harsh breath. “We’ll never know now, will we?”

“It wouldn’t have happened that way,” I told him. “You were the one who wanted to hide that we’d been together. You were the one who gave us a graduation deadline. That was you, Chase.”

“I know, and I still think it was the right thing to do. For you.”

“For me,” I said with a laugh.

“Yes, all of this was for you.” He shook his head. “Look, let’s step back. We’re getting away from the real issue here.”

“Are we? It’s not the fact that we’ve been going back and forth for three years because neither of us can stay away from the other. And now, I’m supposed to be moving across the whole fucking country. Where does that put us, Chase?”

“It puts us exactly wherever you want us to be on graduation,” he said simply.

“Does it?” I asked helplessly. “Why does it feel like I’ll be a world away?”

“Harley, do you even want to go to law school?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“You’re looking at this in all the wrong way.”

“Enlighten me.”

He huffed. “Take me out of the equation.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Just for a minute. Hypothetically, take me out of the equation. Erase your father’s machinations. Remove all of that extra angst about your decision.” He took my hands in his. “You just got into Harvard Law School.”

“I know,” I whispered.

“The best law school in the country.”

“I know.”

“And you’re not even a little happy?”

I bit my lip, waffling on the truth of that. What if Owen weren’t going to pay for it? What if Chase weren’t going to be so far away from me? What if this were just me, making the decision for myself? This was the accumulation of everything I’d ever worked for. I just hadn’t been able to see through the haze of it all.

“Yes,” I finally said. “Yes, I’m happy.”

He blew out a breath of relief. “Good. You should be. You worked your ass off, and you’re so fucking smart. Harvard should be knocking your door down to get you to go to their school.”

I laughed through the tears still caught in my throat. “I got into Harvard.”

“You did. You did that. No one else.”

“That’s impressive,” I offered.

He chuckled and drew me into his arms. “It’s really fucking impressive, baby girl. You’re incredible.”

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