Page 275 of When We Fall: Part One
“We’re never going to happen, Ani.”
Her words were like a knife through my heart. The silence that followed gutted me. My hands fell away from her like dead weight. I took a step back, as if staying any closer would cause me to shatter into pieces too small to find again.
“You have to let this idea of us go. I-I have to let it go,” she said, her voice shaking. “Love someone else. Please.Please dothis for me.I hate to see you hurting because of me. It’s not fair. We can never be, Ani. You’re one of my best friends, but we will never happen.Ever.I’m with the guys. I vowed myself to them. And that’s… it. Friends. That is all we will ever be. Please… I just need you to be my friend.”
I stared at her, my heart aching. I’d never been truly rejected before. This entire time, I thought maybe I had a shot, even if it were a tiny shot. Not only was I standing before her because I fucking loved and wanted her, but I wanted to save Fox. I wanted to saveher. But in all that, I was destroying myself.
Her words finally woke me.
“OK,” I finally managed to say. “Friends. Forever. Nothing more. Nothing else.”
Her bottom lip wobbled before she pushed past me, tears streaking down her cheeks. I blinked rapidly. It took me a moment to realize I was crying too.
Instead of chasing her, begging her to fucking want me back, I simply stood there. A failure.
There was nothing I could do. The realization hit me harder than any punch ever did in the ring during my underground fighting days.
So this was… rejection.
It fucking hurt.
I swallowed hard and wiped at my eyes before I went out the club's back door and into the night, my heart officially broken.
If she wanted me to love someone else, I would.
For her, I would fucking do anything.
Even if it meant moving on.
