Page 107 of Broken Pieces
His words are like a whiplash; a slap to the face.
A wave of emotion crashes over me, and my eyes well up with tears as I reluctantly take a step back, nodding in silent understanding. A heavy ache tightens around my heart, squeezing it in a vise of conflicting emotions. Just a few weeks back, he told me he loved me and that he believed in me. The wordsfeltreal. Now, it's like those momentsnever happened.
I brush away a tear from my cheek. “Pathetic, huh?” I mutter unsteadily.
His face drains of color as he tries to close the distance between us. “Darling, no. I—”
I take a few more steps back, keeping even more distance now. “Save it. I don’t want to hear your excuses. I’m not some toy you get to play with when you feel like it, Damian. You don’t get to pick up the broken pieces and put them together when you have the time and patience, and crumble them when you don’t. I’m fucking human. I deserve more than this. I’m done.” I throw his phone at him, which he surprisingly catches.
Guess his senses are coming back.
I storm the other way, walking back home. And the worst part? He doesn’t follow.
I’m an emotional wreck. Have been for the majority of the week. The girls have been checking in regularly, but I can’t even bother to come up with a reply that doesn’t sound pathetic.
What was I fucking thinking, falling in love with him? Since the beginning I’ve known that he has two different lives.
The ruthless, selfish, arrogant asshole—the mask he’s so carefully built and perfected for the world, a job he’s exceeded at.
Then, there’s the real him—or so I thought—kind; thoughtful; loving; patient. The man I fell in love with. The man that navigated through my heart and took it when I least expected it. But was that even the real him? Or was this another mask that he made me believe in? Am I an idiot? Have I been taken for fucking granted?
God, my head is pounding, surely because I haven’t eaten anything.
Someone’s knocking on my door now, and as I get comfortable on the couch watchingFriendsreruns, I yell, “Go away!”
“Ari, open up!” Isabella yells from the other side of the door.
“I’m not in the mood, Isa. Go away!” I yell back.
“That’s it,” Sophia says from the other side of the door as I hear her keys rattling. “We’re coming in!” she yells as she opens the door.
“I knew giving you that key was a mistake,” I groan.
“I would have found my way in. Don’t underestimate me, Petrov.”
I glare at her. “Don’t last name me.”
She points a finger at me. “Don’t give me a reason to.”
I love my friends, I do. Truly. They are there for me every time. But I want to be left alone. Can’t a girl wallow in peace?
Isabella sits next to me, giving me a side hug. “How are you holding up, hun?”
“Gee, I don’t know, let’s see.” I sigh. “Damian tells me he loves me, then right before I was going to say it back, an FBI agent walks in andarrestshim. Then, he gets out, excited to see me and suddenly drops off the face of the earth. In summary, I’mgreat, thank you for asking.” I smile sarcastically.
“He’s miserable, you know,” Isa whispers.
And what good does that do to me? Why is he miserable? Why is he not talking to me? He just disappeared.Poof. No explanation whatsoever. I get he’s going through a hard time, butfuck, I’m here. Right here. Ready to support him in whatever he needs.
I’m ready to pick up his pieces, just like he did with mine.
Greeting Liam as I walk into his office, I get straight to business. “I’m pleading guilty.”
His eyes widen in shock as he demands, “And why would you do that?”
The words hover just on the edge of my tongue.
Because I rather rot in jail than hurt the woman I love.
