Page 56 of The Way We Are

“Don’t... just don’t,” she requests when I step closer to her, hoping the pain in my eyes will reveal I never set out to hurt her. I wanted to show her that good guys are just as worthy. I fucking failed.

Guilt smashes into me hard and fast, adding to the anger sluicing my veins, when Amelia’s abrupt dash to her friends waiting for her on the sidelines causes more tears to trickle from her eyes.

“Are you happy?” I ask, returning my slit gaze to Savannah. “You achieved what you set out to do. I’m single and fucking miserable. You must be so proud.”

She shakes her head, wordlessly denying my assumption she only spoke to me to cause a ripple in the connection she saw between Amelia and me.

“This isn’t what I want, Ryan. I don’t want you to be miserable.”

“Then what do you want, Savannah? Tell me what you want!” I scream, hoping the anger in my voice will hide the plea in my question.I want her to choose me.

Tears stream down Savannah’s face as she replies, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I want.” Her last three words are separated by hiccups, not only revealing she's devastated, but also exposing she is lying. She knows what she wants; she just refuses to acknowledge it.

I can’t talk sense into someone who can’t see reason—it’s as pointless as smacking my head against a brick wall. I push off my feet and resume my descent down the only exit of Bronte’s Peak.

“Enjoy your life, Savannah. I’m fucking done.”

She doesn’t reply, all I hear is her gasp in shock.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Brax says, stepping into the path of my furious strides a few seconds later. “We discussed this, Ryan. Running away from your problems won’t solve anything.” His words are breathless, proving his endeavor to reach me is as dire as my urge to get away from Savannah.

“I’m not running,” I argue, skirting by him.

My teeth grit when he catches up to me to spread his hand across my heaving chest. His glare is more effective at slowing me down than his strength.

“You’re running because it's easier than facing the truth.”

I ball my hands at my side, struggling not to wipe the pretentiousness off his face with my fists. I’m not angry at Brax; I’m angry that he is right. That’s why I’m leaving this town for dust first thing tomorrow morning—because running is easier than tackling a truth I never want to face: I love Savannah, but she will never love me the same way.

If only she had picked me instead of him. If she were my girl, I would have wiped away her tears before promising that everything would be okay. I would have begged for her to leave with me tomorrow morning and pretend this town never existed. But since she isn’t my girl, I keep my heart on lockdown and pretend my pulse isn’t pounding my ears. It's a fucking hard feat.

“I can’t stay here. Brax. I can’t watch her withhim, acting like I don’t want to pull his stomach out of his throat.”I can’t pretend I don’t love her when I do.

My nails dig into my palms when, from the corner of my eye, I catch sight of a red convertible gliding down the windy hill of Bronte’s Peak. Although the soft top of Axel’s pride and joy is closed, the moonlight bouncing off Savannah’s honey hair tells me everything I need to know—she has once again chosen him over me.

Spotting me at the side of the road, the angry sneer on Axel’s face grows along with his pressure on the gas pedal. The heavy groove embedded between his brows is as deep as mine, and his eyes are just as frustrated. With the snarl of a dangerous man, he whizzes past us at a frantic speed, kicking up more wind than the storm approaching on the horizon.

“He’s a fucking dead man,” Brax warns. Axel’s car was so close to us when passing, his side mirror was mere millimeters from grazing my stomach.

Just before Axel’s taillights disappear into the dark night, he slams on his brakes, and completes a dangerous one-eighty maneuver. My heart rate, which was just settling, breaks into a gallop when his vibrant red paint blurs from his furious speed. He rockets toward us like a maniac—like a man without fear of repercussions.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Brax tugs on my arm to draw me into the shoulder of the road.

He pulls me back far enough Axel’s headlights stop blinding me, but not far enough to miss the mask of fear on Savannah’s face. If she's worried Axel is going to hurt me, she doesn’t need to fret. My greatest fear has already come true. She's in love with a man as violent as my father.

The closer Axel’s car charges toward us, the paler Savannah’s face becomes. I can’t hear a word she's shouting, but her lips are moving a million miles an hour.

When Axel fails to acknowledge her concerns, her fists take up her campaign. She pounds her balled hands on his arm four times before leaning over to yank on his steering wheel.

It feels like an arrow is shot through my heart when her abrupt jerk of the steering wheel causes Axel’s car to fishtail in the loose gravel. Dust kicks up around us, hindering my vision of his car weaving uncontrollably on the dusty road.

In a state of panic, Axel slams his foot onto the accelerator instead of the brake, sending his expensive deathtrap charging toward the thin barricade separating the roadside from the cliff’s edge.

“No, no, no, no, no,” I scream in my head on repeat.

The front fender of his car breaks through the barricade at the exact moment Savannah’s eyes lock with mine. They issue the same plea they’ve been giving all night. The one that begs for understanding while also praying for forgiveness.

I’ve never been overly confident at lip reading, but even my lack of skills can’t hide what Savannah mouths when Axel’s car sails into the air like a plane gliding through the sky.

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