Page 58 of Twisted Redemption

BROOKE

TWO MONTHS AGO

I SLIDE MY fingers over my seatbelt, waiting at the stoplight. David’s bar is in my rearview mirror, along with his shouts of protest from when I said we were over.

My eyes are dry. I let myself cry yesterday, when Alex broke it to me that he caught David cheating on me. Today, I kept my conversation with David short and to the point, and then I got the hell out of there.

It took me until yesterday to realize it, but my next destination is more important, anyway.

Not having Blaze in my life for the past ten months has been hell. David hated how close the two of us were—saw it as a threat. And back then, I wasn’t strong enough to tell him no when he said it was either him or Blaze.

Hell, I wasn’t strong enough last week. If not for Alex’s intervention, I’d still be stuck in the hopeless cycle of missing Blaze while vying for attention and love from David, when all he loves to do is withhold it from me.

Not like Blaze—never like Blaze.

He was always there for me. And I pushed him out of my life like I didn’t care about him at all.

I grip the steering wheel as the light turns green. The guilt that’s been gnawing at my stomach for months only grows the closer I get to his house.

But I have to do this. Blaze is my best friend. Not seeing him and laughing with him and just being around him is the biggest regret of my entire life.

And even if this goes poorly, he at the very least deserves an apology from me.

When I pull into his driveway, I take a deep breath. For a moment, I just stare at his house.

I know I fucked up—I know I hurt Blaze. Minus the vacation our families take together every year, I’ve only seen him a couple times over the past ten months. But the hurt in his eyes has been clear every time.

I just have to hope he still cares enough to let me fix things.

He might not forgive you, you know.

The thought makes my stomach turn, and for a moment I think I might throw up. I’ve been resisting the urge to blame this all on David, but I refuse to water down my apology by shifting the blame.

David may have forced me to choose between him and Blaze, but I’m still the one who made the choice. Still the one who broke Blaze’s heart.

You were his best friend. How can you expect him to forgive this kind of betrayal?

I swallow. “You’ll never know until you try,” I murmur.

When I ring his doorbell, my hands are shaking. How odd. I never get shaky when I’m nervous. Must be new.

When Blaze’s front door swings open, I’m staring at my trembling fingers.

“Da- Brooke. What are you doing here?”

When I look up at the man standing in front of me, every single thing I wanted to say leaves my brain. He’s staring at my hands, a panicked look on his face that reminds me of the night I abandoned him.

My stomach turns again, and I press a hand to my mouth.

Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up. Oh, fuck—

Blaze grabs me and hauls me into the house. Next thing I know, he has me kneeling in front of his downstairs toilet, just in time for my stomach to empty of its contents.

He holds back my hair, stroking my back until I finish. Then he hands me some toilet paper, and I wipe my mouth before closing the lid and flushing.

For a moment, we just watch each other. He looks even more worried than he did when he answered the door.

“This isn’t how this was supposed to go,” I mutter.

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