Page 47 of Bought and Broken

“I forgive you for all of that. I thought about it, and you must’ve been hurting. I knew this about you, and I should have put it all together before, but I was angry. I let my own feelings get in the way, and that wasn’t fair. By buying me, you did me a huge favor.”

Not only did he save me from giving my virginity away to some creep, but he’s the reason I have the money to leave. That alone is enough of a reason to forgive what he’s done to me, even if I can never tell him the truth about it.

“So, what? Are you saying you want things to go back to the way they were? You want us to date?”

I sigh, shifting in my seat before answering him.

“We were very different people then. We were kids. We’re adults now. We hardly know one another. What I’m saying is we’re here for one more day, let’s see how things go. Things will be different when we leave this bubble. That’s how it always goes, right? When we’re back in the real world, you’ll go back to being your grumpy self. I’ve accepted that’s who you are out there, but I want you to know that moving forward, I’m here for you. No matter what it is you need, I’m here.”

He frowns, but after a moment, nods slowly, as if it doesn’t make sense but he’ll agree to it. I’d considered telling him I’m moving away, but now that the words are about to leave my mouth, I can’t do it. Tatum has no loyalty to me. He will certainly tell Dane, so I can’t share this with him. Maybe I’ll tell Tatum before I leave or maybe I won’t.

“So, while we’re here…” he says, looking for clarification.

“I’d like to get to know you again. The you you are when you’re with me. I always got the best parts of you, Tate, and I’d like to see that again before this is over. Maybe even after we leave? We aren’t getting any younger.”

Again, he nods, then turns his attention to the TV. I watch him for another moment, wondering if he’s going to say something, but he doesn’t. He just keeps watching the screen, so I do the same. I lean against him again, and this time he doesn’t move away—he does nothing to cuddle more, either. He just sits there and lets me do my thing.

It’s weird to think just a short time ago he was kissing me like I was the air he needed to breathe. I’m definitely overthinking all of this stuff with Tate, and it’s clear he’s as confused as I am. Maybe I’m looking to Tate for answers he doesn’t have. I can’t expect him to have everything figured out, right? If I’m confused, he probably is too. Things with us haven’t been easy. And Tate didn’t have a healthy family growing up. He doesn’t know how to talk about his feelings. He bottles them up until he can’t contain them, then he gets angry. Both of his parents abandoned him. He has no one to lean on. Everyone who was supposed to be there for him, wasn’t.

I have no idea what the future holds for either of us, but I’m certain whatever it is, we’re doing it separately. I’m okay with that.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Tatum

Somehow, the conversation with Devon is stranger than the one with my father. What the hell happened in the short time I’d ran off to my room to her coming to my door? It’s like she had an epiphany and all was forgiven. Just like that, she’s let go of all the bad shit in our history and wants to move forward with a clean slate.

I should be happy about this. This is what I want from her. She’s where I need her to be now. Accepting of me. Vulnerable. But can I do this? Can I go into this intending to break her heart just to get even?

Yeah, I can. And I will. It’s the only thing that’ll fix what she did to me. And the sooner I stop worrying about it and just do it, the better it’ll be for everyone. I’m tired of living with this constant pain in my chest that she put there.

When the movie is over, I tell her to pick another while I go downstairs. I need a few moments to breathe and get my head clear. Kissing her fucked me up. My father fucked me up. Then her speech fucked me up even more.

This is what I wanted. This is the plan.

We’re on the right track. She’s basically offering herself to me. I can’t screw this up. I have to take everything she’s giving and give it back tenfold. I need to play this part. Act like I care. Get the fuck out of my head with these real feelings and just do what makes her happy. Should be easy.

I cut a large slice of the cheesecake I made earlier, add the strawberry sauce on top, then some whipped cream. Taking only one fork, I bring it upstairs to the theatre.

“Is that for me?” she says excitedly when I sit beside her.

“On one condition.”

She sits up, eyes on the dessert.

“What?” she asks with a curious smile.

“I feed it to you.”

Devon frowns. “Seriously, Tate?”

I nod, cutting off a small bite. I hold it out to her. She chews on the corner of her lip, her bright eyes holding mine. She leans in, and those perfect lips of hers wrap around the fork and all I can think about is her wrapping her lips around my cock.

She sighs, chewing the food, and her body relaxes against the couch.

“You did not make this,” she says after she swallows.

I cut another bite for her. “I assure you, I did.”

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