Page 104 of Always Right

His silence was answer enough.

He'd kept me alive. He was one of the biggest reasons I didn't give up.

And now, it turned out it was all a lie. I could feel myself suffocating in the abyss of his betrayal...lost and confused.

I buried my face in my hands, hating that I couldn't keep it anymore and crying at the loss of a friendship that perhaps never existed and that idea was simply too much to bear.

Strong arms surrounded me and though I wish I could have fought it, I wasn't able to. Blake pulled me into his embrace, holding me in silence, as the beat of his heart told me what his words wouldn’t. I’m sorry.

It didn't matter if he didn't know how far things would go.

The outcome is the same.

"My friendship was never a lie," he whispered, cupping my face in his hands. "My friendship was—is—real. I just fucked up and I wish I hadn't. But I can't change it, Hannah. It's too late."

His blue eyes pierced through my heart, breaking it even more. The regret was so palpable, so fucking evident, I almost fell sorry for him.

Almost.

"You could have told me you needed money, Blake. You could have done so many things...why this? Why? I don't understand."

He shook his head. "Me neither. I didn't know things would get this far, I didn't know he was stalking you...I didn’t know his plans for the gallery. By then it was too late and I couldn’t fucking get out. I haven't been in contact with him since...well..."

"Say it." I pushed myself away from his embrace, creating distance between us. "Since you stole from Nathan."

With a single nod, Blake stepped back, the tension returning to his body.

"What do you want me to do, Hannah? Tell me and I'll do it."

Tell me it's not true.

I glanced away, looking at the window that faced the driveway. Derek's car was pulling up.

"I want you to go to the police and tell them everything." All emotion was gone. I couldn't fucking cry anymore. I wouldn't. Blake's lips pressed together, but he didn't move, standing tall and accepting my request with a single nod. "And then...after that, I want you to forget about me and my family."

His eyes reddened. I placed a hand over my chest, trying to still my crazy heart as I said the words I never thought I would say. "I want you to forget we exist, I want you to live with your regret for the rest of your life and when you think of me, I want you to remember that I loved you. That you gave me the motivation to live and then you pulled the rug from underneath my feet, making me doubt everything all over again."

My words broke him. His shoulders slumped and whatever was left of his confidence disappeared when the door flung open and Derek walked in.

His voice carried over through the house and dread filled me as I realized I would have to tell him everything.

"I brought Italian," Derek said, pausing when he saw my tear stricken face, and then the heartbreak on Blake's. "What's going on?"

I swallowed, knowing that I wouldn't be able to speak without losing it.

Blake knew it, too.

He cleared his throat, glancing once more in my direction, this time with a silent word in his gaze that cut straight through my soul.

Goodbye.

"I need to talk to you before I leave." Blake said nothing else and walked past him, closing the door behind him. Derek had questions, so many of them, but he didn’t say a word, instead setting the bag of food on the floor and following behind Blake.

All they left behind was silence.

It engulfed me completely...it overwhelmed every sense in my body. Several seconds passed, maybe a few minutes in which all I felt was the nauseating reality hit me like a train. That was until I heard the loud thud against the door and Derek’s voice thundering from outside.

He told him.

---