Page 58 of Back to Me

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

SARA

It’s an amazing feeling. An amazing, unpredictable feeling. Betrayal.

What an amazing, unpredictable, and horrifying feeling betrayal can be.

My face stings with a thousand pricks as if I’ve been slapped across the face. When I make it to the parking lot, I have no idea where I’m going to go. I can’t leave, Graham is the one who drove us here. Still, I keep going.

I’m halfway through the parking lot when I hear him call my name. My body ignites into a thousand flames at the mere sound of his voice. Tears stream down my cheeks, and I can’t help but wonder how this could have happened. How the night has twisted into one where I’m storming through the parking lot of the museum, Graham chasing after me.

“Sara!” he calls again.

I don’t stop. I need to keep going.

“Sara!” Again, he yells for me, but I don’t answer him. I don’t give him the satisfaction.

His voice grows louder, closer. “Sara! Please, stop.”

Annoyed, I immediately stop and spin around.

“Why?” I yell. My fingernails dig into the palms of my hands, stinging like the betrayal dripping from Graham’s clean-shaven face.

“What—" He says, stopping to catch his breath. His shoulders fall, exhaustion and confusion overtaking him. “Why are you leaving? Talk to me.” Holding his hand out, he walks toward me.

The way his arm reaches out to me breaks my heart even more. I remember the way that same arm once wrapped around me, making me feel safe and loved. I try not to let him distract me. The way the black fabric of suit looks wrapped around his smooth skin. The way the fabric stretches against his muscles. I’ve never seen him look sexier or more handsome than he does tonight. And despite my anger toward him, I wish he was dressed in anything other than his sexy black suit. I’m only kidding myself, knowing it really doesn’t matter what Graham was wearing, my heart still aches for him.

I push the thoughts away, feeling the betrayal sting against my skin. Backing up, I shake my head.

“No. Stay away from me.”

Over Graham’s shoulder, I watch as Em, Cam, and Graham’s father jog down the steps of the entrance to the museum. Worry is written on their faces as they follow the same path to get where Graham and I are standing now.

The overhead parking lot shines a spotlight on us, and my vision blurs once again as the tears and anger overtake me.

“Come on,” Graham begs.

“No,” I shout. “You’re a liar, and I can’t believe you would stoop this low.”

“How am I a liar?”

“You lied.” Pointing behind him to the museum, I sob between each word passing my lips. “You told me I would get recognition for all of my work. But not a single goddamn piece in that entire museum has my name on it! Not one, Graham.” All the air in my body leaves me. A stabbing pain grows in my chest, and I struggle to take in each breath, staring at the man I love. I want to fall to my knees, to beg for this feeling to go away.

“How could you do this to me? How could you use me like this? Are you that desperate to get ahead?”

“What?” he asks breathlessly. Panic flashes across his face, but my concern for him disappears as I reread every plaque in my mind—my name absent from every single one.

“You...“ I close my mouth, swallowing the courage to speak the words I now know to be true. Buried feelings brewed to the surface the moment my eyes landed on those banners. “You never intended for my name to be on anything. You’ve always compared the paths we took in our careers and needed to push me down to claw your way up.”

Graham takes a step back, stunned by my accusation. My words have stabbed him, wounded him when he least expected it.

My blood boils and my pulse increases, knowing I’m right. It’s tough to admit, and for a moment, I question whether it was me who really said it. But the anger flurries in me again like a winter storm, turning me to ice.

“You think I’m jealous of you?” he asks. An incredulous laugh suddenly erupts from his throat. “That makes absolutely no sense! You’re insane!”

“Oh,” I groan. I rest each of my hands on my hips and walk around in a circle, unable to look at Graham in the eye. “It makes total sense, Graham. How many times have you brought up the fact I went to college and earned my degree? You believed it somehow magically made it easier for me to get a job. You’ve always been jealous, and you know it.” Stopping, I force myself to calm down, staring straight into Graham. “So, the second someone showed any amount of interest in you, even the tiniest bit, you took it and ran with it. You didn’t care if you dragged me through the dirt to get ahead. You wanted less work for all the credit.”

“What is this, some kind of rivalry?” Graham digs his fingertips into the side of his head and throws his arms out like his mind is exploding from the sheer idea. “Do you know how insane you sound right now?” he yells. His words echo across the parking lot, booming and reverberating off my chest. “Do you honestly believe I would do something like this? I love you, Sara. I don’t know what the fuck is going on.”

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