Page 162 of Now and Forever

I had to set my pride aside and keep on pleading, hoping he would see my side and not rush to judge. We hadn’t gotten here all by my doing. He had taken part in it, too.

“I know it’s wrong to even say it, but I hope you can forgive me.” I had hurt him, and that hadn’t been my intention at all.

He blew out a breath, edgily shrugging. “You don’t need my forgiveness. There’s nothing between us, Chloe.”

He was bluffing. I knew he was.

“Your face earlier today told me otherwise.”

“It meant nothing,” he vehemently stated.

My heart went out to him. My hands itched to touch him, just as they had merely a few days ago. I missed him, but I had no grounds to, not after what he had witnessed. Though my throat constricted, I knew I had to say it.

“It meant nothing to me, Drew,” I blurted out, watching him flinch.

As he ran a hand through this hair, his chiseled chest heaved before my very eyes, drawing my eyes toward his lack of apparel.

“Right, so what do you want me to say? Bravo?” he jeered.

“You don’t have to be like this.”

“It has to be like this, Chloe!”

“But—” I tried to argue, but he held his hand up, stopping me.

“You have to stop with the excuses! Own up to it. You fucked him, and you enjoyed it. Well done, you! So now, can we please get on with our lives? Because I already have, and this thing that you’re doing, rehashing events of your own doing, means nothing to me. You mean nothing to me!”

His last few words hit me hard. He had been callous before, but this … This was a new level of cruelty.

Tears fell, and I didn’t even try to wipe them away. Instead, I gazed at him, braving out the frostiness of his glare.

“I just don’t know what to do. I can’t function, knowing I caused you pain. I’ve apologized, but you don’t want it. I’m sorry I hurt you. I really am.”

“You caused me nothing, Chloe. You caused me nothing at all from start to finish. How clear do you want me to be?” he sneered, revolted.

Clear as crystal.

“I think you’ve said enough. No need to spell it out for me.” Without another glance, I walked away from him and everything I had once loved with all of my heart.

?

It was Friday afternoon, and I was heading toward my very first job interview. To say I was beyond nervous would be an understatement.

Ever since Monday night after I had left the hotel, I’d been functioning like a zombie. Sleep and food were the least of my priorities. My mind always zoned in on the past, recalling how I could have—would have—done things differently. But yesterday, one call had changed my perspective.

Had it not been for this job opportunity, I probably would be staring into space instead of sitting outside the office of Teen Vogue’s famed editor-in-chief, waiting for my turn to be interrogated.

I couldn’t be too sure what the questions would entail, but I had come here with a good mindset and willingness to work with whatever task she handed me. Anything, really, just to get me out of the rut I was in.

Five minutes later, I found myself almost in the hot seat. Well, based on the way she looked at me, the woman took the saying “resting bitch face” to another level.

“My brother called in a favor. He’s not one to do such things,” she stated succinctly and with just enough edge to make the person on the receiving end pay acute attention to her. “But here I am, making an exception for Miss Chloe Armstrong.”

Needless to say, I began to sweat profusely. “Thank you. It’s very kind of you to do so.”

Mandy Johnson simply ignored me as her eyes raked my meager résumé. While doing so, she gave me a little breathing room, just enough not to pass out before she brought me back with a mere question that sent my mind into a confused tizzy.

“What’s your size?”

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