Page 64 of Even if You Fall

“What?”

I looked pointedly at her arms, then placed a hand on her waist and gently pushed her to the side so I could grab my discarded hoodie. Once I had it in my grasp, I held it out for her to take and tried to figure out how to ease into this conversation.

But I wasn’t sure there was any easing into a conversation about an ex who had lied and gaslighted as badly as Vance had. And Chloe’s reaction was undoubtedly about Vance. That mixture of uncertainty and shame was becoming as recognizable as her mask.

“Did you read the messages from him?”

Her eyebrows lifted before she raised her head to look at me. “They are from him?” she confirmed, then quickly added, “The others?” When I nodded, she glanced at the phone before looking away. “I didn’t. But it was easy enough to assume.” She drew in a breath and started to speak again before releasing it on a rush and holding the phone out to me.

She didn’t look back at me as she climbed into the bed and sat up against the headboard. Hoodie still folded in her arms. Book still forgotten beside her as she stared ahead.

I watched her for a while longer before tapping out of the thread with Lainey and going into the one with Owen Vance’s blocked number.

Unknown

Where are you?

Don’t be like this Chlo. I know you’re reading these. Just tell me where you went.

I wasn’t ready to get married before. I wasn’t ready to start a family when you wanted. I’m sorry. Don’t shut me out because it took me a little longer to get to the same place.

A life together. A family. The entire world Chlo...it’s yours. Just come back.

I wasn’t sure how it was possible to hate someone more than I’d already hated Owen Vance. But I was shaking with a lethal combination of rage, fear, and jealousy as I read the new messages over and over again.

Finally tearing my stare from the screen, I swiped out of the messages and locked it as my gaze sought out Chloe again—still in the same position from before.

“Do you still love him?” The question left me before I could begin to filter myself, but then it was out and filling the room with the storm of emotions I couldn’t seem to control.

Chloe just gave a sad laugh before her hazel eyes shifted my way. “It’s complicated.”

I wasn’t used to this. I’d never let myself get close enough to care about a woman, let alone get deep enough that it felt likeI couldn’t breathe—felt like my chest was wrenching open—all because she might be in love with someone else.

I hated it.

“Nothing complicated about it,” I told her. “Yes or no.”

“Itiscomplicated,” she said adamantly. “Becauseno, I don’t love Owen anymore. Just being near him makes me feel cold in a way that is truly sickening. And before you ask, that’s something I’ve felt from the first time I met him. Butit’s complicatedbecause Owen Vance has this charisma that is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. And when he puts his entire focus on you, he can make you forget that sickening chill. He can make you think youwantto be in love with him, even if you know he’s a terrible person.”

I tipped my chin at her. “Then what’s this? What’s this hesitation that bursts from you whenever he’s brought up, like you have one foot back in a relationship with him?”

“I don’t,” she said unwaveringly.

“You sure?”

“Why would it matter to you even if I did?” she shot back.

“Because he manipulated you,” I seethed. “He twisted every one of your thoughts until he had you right where he wanted you, getting exactly what he wanted from you.”

That humiliation was quick to follow, and my heart lurched when her eyes turned glassy. But she quickly looked away, blinking away the moisture.

“Chloe . . .”

“Is that what you see when you look at me?” A humorless laugh pushed past her full lips as her pained stare drifted back to me. “A stupid girl, hopelessly in love with the man who manipulated her?”

“Never said that.”

“But it’s what you think?” she asked, her voice dipping and breaking as she spoke.

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