Page 80 of Undeniable

“Ivy, please don’t—”

“Don’t what?” I nearly shouted. My grip on my cell phone was painfully tight. “It’s a valid question. You said you were coming, and you didn’t. Why not? If I’m not just some conquest, then why aren’t you here?”

It was several long seconds before he said, “My not coming has nothing to do with that, Ivy. I swear. I… we said it would only be for the summer. We have the distance to consider and I mean, four years is a long time to be apart. I just thought it would be better if I didn’t go back. So we could have a clean break.”

“I wish I could believe you.”

“Ivy, you—you were the one that initiated it. I didn’t ever pressure you to have sex.”

“Screw you,” I growled into the phone. It felt like such a low blow, reminding me how wrapped around his finger I had been.

“Fuck, Ivy. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he apologized quickly, and he muttered another curse under his breath. “Please believe me. Whatever anyone else is telling you is bullshit. The only reason I didn’t go back was because if I had, it would’ve been so much harder to leave a second time. I was just trying to keep the agreement we’d made. And I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to let you go again.”

I scoffed, and the numbness was washed away by undiluted anger. And that anger felt so much better than the pain, so I let it reign. “To let me go, you would have had to have me in the first place.”

“You’re right,” he said, sounding resigned. I stood and wiped from my cheeks the tears that had finally slid free.

He began speaking again, but I willed steel into my voice as I spoke over him. “I’m going to go try to salvage what’s left of my birthday.”

“Wait, Ivy, I don’t want things to end like this. Please—”

“Whatever else you have to say, I don’t really care. You want me to believe you, but I don’t. And short of a miracle, there’s nothing you could say or do that would change my mind.”

“I’m so sorry,” he pleaded, but I laughed half-heartedly through another onslaught of tears.

Suddenly a group of people passed by the porch, and I tried to hide in the dark corner by the side of the house as they headed to their cars. Someone was bound to find me, and it was late enough that I could hide without my presence being missed.

Before he had a chance to say anything else, I cleared my throat and nearly choked on the words as I said, “Goodbye, James.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Ivy

Thirteen Years Ago

My room was blessedlydark and free from any of the party commotion still going on outside. Slipping under the covers, I finally let the tears fall.

They were constant, and eventually, I couldn’t contain the sobs that racked my body.

I was an idiot for ever getting my hopes up. There couldn’t have been more between us, and I knew that for sure then. Whatever the conversation between the guys had been, I didn’t care. Something must’ve happened or been said, even if James didn’t remember each and every detail. It should’ve never happened.

Heartbroken didn’t even begin to describe the feeling in my chest. It was more like my heart had shattered and then the little pieces that were left had been incinerated.

My head was pounding by the time the tears had stopped, and I didn’t hear the person knocking at my door. I only heard the squeak of the old hinges as they entered.

“Ivy.” It was Brendon’s soft and reassuring voice that said my name a second before he shut the door again.

The next thing I felt was the bed dip beside me before his hand landed on my hip.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t,” I said, mortified at the pity I heard in his voice.

“Forrest told me what happened… I should’ve told you sooner, but I didn’t think anything was going to happen. I only heard the end of the conversation, but the stuff James said… was pretty messed up. He said that he would have no problem…”

“Stop,” I said from beneath the blankets. And thankfully, he did stop as I stuttered another sob. I didn’t need to hear the details. It was better if I didn’t know exactly what he’d said.

He shifted, and then he was prying back the blankets I was trying my hardest to keep a hold of. But I was weak, and it didn’t take much effort on his part to expose my tear-sodden face and disheveled hair.

---