CHAPTER 1
VENUS
Iwas utterly and completely alone.
Nothing but infinite trees surrounded me.
Not even the sound of a nearby bird was there to keep me company.
It was silent.
Trees and silence. Allowing my thoughts to fester.
I did this.
I pushed everyone away.
River didn’t want me. I betrayed him.
Why would anyone want someone who ran away at the first sign of trouble?
Why would anyone want someone who didn’t trust them? Who believed they could do the worst? Be the worst.
I didn’t blame him for rejecting me. For leaving me all alone here.
Not in the least.
What else could I expect to happen by returning?
He might have been surprised to see me. But that’s all it was. After the initial shock settled, it made complete sense that he would remember how I up and left him. Didn’t even give him a chance to explain.
I couldn’t just come back and pretend everything was normal. Go back to what it was before I broke his heart.
He didn’t want me.
The sun faded away, its warmth no longer hugging me in its golden embrace. Now it was just me in what felt like a dark void of endless despair that threatened to swallow me whole as the shadows kissed the trees, whispering as they drew closer. Telling me all I had done. All my mistakes.
I had messed up not one, but two good things.
Griffin didn’t want me either.
He told me to leave.
I screwed that up too. Pretended that I didn’t want more and that my feelings were not growing like an avalanche rolling down a snow-covered mountain. Falling out of control and unchecked.
The shadows crept closer.
I was not honest with him. Didn’t admit how I felt.
I hurt him.
And then I left.
Pushed him away and did exactly what he feared most from a relationship. Feared most from being vulnerable with someone. I abandoned him.
And now I had been abandoned.
Karma had cruel ways of making itself known.