Page 36 of All I Ask
I look up in his blue eyes, and a tear falls. “That’s the cruelest thing you could’ve ever said to me.”
And then, I walk away, leaving him like he left me.
Chapter Thirteen
Teagan
Twenty-one years old
“What are you saying?” I ask as tears start to stream down my face.
“I’m saying I don’t think we should talk anymore.”
My heart hurts. I’m confused and I don’t understand why Derek is saying these things. I haven’t done anything. We talked yesterday and everything was perfectly fine.What the hell changed?
“Why?”
“Because, Teagan, I don’t want to.”
This is crazy.
“I don’t believe you.”
He lets out a sigh and I imagine him pacing, like he does when he’s dealing with things that stress him out. “You don’t have to. It’s the way it is, you’ll understand someday.”
“I don’t understand any of this!” I yell and sink onto the couch. My stomach clenches and I rest my hand there. Why is he doing this? Why is he pushing me away?
“It’s just time. I’m married now and having my own family. I need to focus on Meghan and the baby.”
My mouth opens and then closes because it still isn’t computing. “What does that have to do with me? I’m your friend, Derek. You promised.” I choke on the word as a tear falls. “You promised you’d be here for me. You said you wouldn’t let me be alone after everything with Keith!”
He’s silent. If it weren’t for the sound of his breathing, I would think he’d hung up.
“You have nothing to say?” I ask.
“No.”
“No? After all these years? After everything we’ve been through, you offer me no fucking explanations?”
His voice is angry when he responds. “What do you want? I’m doing what’s best for my marriage!”
My heart aches because I did what was best for his marriage too. I stood there a few weeks ago, watching him marry her, and didn’t say a word. I hugged her, told her I was so happy for her when I wanted to tear my own heart out because it was dead anyway.
For him, I did that.
Now, he doesn’t want to speak to me anymore?
“What happened?” I ask.
“Nothing happened, Teagan.”
“You have never lied to me.” My voice is filled with hurt. “We’ve always told each other the truth, tell me so I can fix it. We can find a way but I can’t lose you. Please…”
“We can’t,” he says and the crack in his voice tells me he’s crying.
“So this is it? No real explanation? Just, we can’t be friends…it’s not me, it’s you?”
I feel like I’m going to throw up. My stomach turns again, pain radiating from the front to my back as I wait for his answers.
