Page 28 of Your Second Chance
This is where I belong,I thought bitterly as I pressed myself into the cold, dark corner.The perfect place for me. A place where I ruin everything.
I couldn’t keep it together long enough to hold a decent job without complicating it. I couldn’t even keep it professional with Ollie.
Bad girl.That voice, the one I thought I’d buried, whispered cruelly in my head.Your mom’s dead,it hissed.You got divorced, and you’re already replacing both of them.The sting of the words cut deeper than the cold tiles against my skin.
A lump rose in my throat, and my stomach churned as I hugged myself tighter, trying to hold my fractured pieces together. I wasn’t grieving right, wasn’t surviving right—I wasn’teven existing right. What kind of person was I? A failure. A screwup.A bad girl.That’s all I’d ever been.
The tears came harder, each sob shaking me to my core as I tried to hide from my own mind, but there was no hiding. There never was.
Somehow, I managed to push myself to my feet, my knees wobbling as I stumbled toward the door. I pushed past him, barely able to breathe.
I was so consumed by my self-loathing that I had no idea what Ollie was saying or doing. Couldn’t say if he was calling to me or reaching for me or packing my bag to send me back to the city. But I didn’t care, and it didn’t matter anyway.
I made it to the bathroom in the hallway and slammed the door, locking it quickly before turning on the shower, the sound of rushing water drowning out my sobs.
I climbed into the tub, sitting on the cold surface, curling into a ball as the tears came harder. I cried until my chest hurt.
As if to add insult to injury, bile rose. I barely managed to lean forward before I puked all over myself.
“Thanks, peach,” I muttered bitterly, wiping at my mouth as the sobs overtook me again.
10
ollie
What did I do? Where did everything go so horribly wrong? I shouldn’t have gone into her room. Shouldn’t have let it go this far. It was too late for would’ves and should’ves. Too late to take it back.
Whatever Nova was going through wasn’t just heavy—it was dark. Darker than I thought I understood. The way she looked at me, the way she ran, the way she crumbled... It wasn't guilt or panic. It was something deeper, something buried so far inside her that it broke her from the inside out. I had no idea how to reach her.
She’d been in the shower for over a half hour, and I was getting worried.
I managed to throw on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt before pacing in the hallway, trying to figure out my next move. Finally, I worked up the courage to knock on the door.
“Hey, Nova?” I called softly, pressing my ear to the door.
The only sound was the steady rush of water. No answer.
Panic surged as my mind spiraled. I had no idea what to do. What if she was in there and drowning?
“Fuck,” I muttered, running my hands through my hair. “Fuck.”
Complicated. So fucking complicated. This was exactly why I shouldn’t?—
“I need to know if you’re okay,” I said, louder this time, my voice tinged with desperation.
Still nothing.
I closed my eyes, resting my forehead against the worn wooden door. My mind raced, trying to piece together some kind of solution.
I ran to her room and scanned for her phone, spotting it on the nightstand. Grabbing it, I quickly opened it—thank God, no security code—and went straight to her messages. Luna’s name was already at the top.
Without thinking, I hit the call button.
“Oh hey, hottie.” Luna greeted cheerfully. “You getting some good coach dick?—”
“Luna?”
“Oh shit,” Luna muttered, clearly realizing who was on the line. I heard rustling on her end. “What happened?”
