Page 15 of Exposed

I kissed her tearstained cheek anyway.

She closed her eyes like it pained her.

“Brooklyn, look at me.” I kissed the side of her neck. “Look at me.”

She didn’t turn her head. If anything she closed her eyes tighter.

“Brooklyn?”

“We need to talk. About everything.” She unwrapped her legs from around my waist and put her feet back on the ground. “Can we maybe…” her voice trailed off as she looked back at her own grave. “Not here.”

I grabbed her hand. We walked in silence down to my car. I opened the passenger side door for her and she climbed in. I sat down in the driver’s seat, but I didn’t put my keys in the ignition. When I thought of Brooklyn I thought of Central Park. I thought of Empire High. But those were good memories. And I had a feeling that whatever she was about to say wasn’t good. I didn’t know where to drive. If this was goodbye, I didn’t want to taint the places that made me feel close to her. I still needed somewhere to go when it felt like my heart needed her.Please don’t say goodbye to me.

She turned in her seat and stared at me. I think she felt it too. That this conversation was meant to be buried here with the dead.

“Did you leave all those flowers on my grave?” She was still holding the yellow rose.

I nodded. “Kennedy may have left a few too. But…yeah. I visit you all the time.”

She pressed her lips together. “I don’t understand.”

“Why I visited? I think you just like hearing me say this… You’re the love of my life. And I’ve only ever loved you.”

She shook her head like she didn’t believe it. “Just let…let me get this out, okay?”

I reached out and grabbed her hand. I didn’t know how to not touch her.

She squeezed my hand back. “My father stole my kidney,” she said. “Apparently I signed something giving him permission to do it. I don’t know. I never read that stupid contract. But I was feeling so low when it happened. Kennedy and I were fighting. And you…you said…”

“I know.” She didn’t have to say it again. I’d called her a liar. I’d told her she was like Isabella. I was a fucking asshole.

“Everyone hated me. I thought my dad was the last person who still loved me and then…he just used me. For spare parts. When I woke up after the surgery, I was freaking out. I told him I wanted out of his house. And he thought that meant I wanted to leave the city. I didn’t. I still loved you, Matt.”

Loved. Past tense.I kept my hand in hers, hoping she wouldn’t let go.

“But he…he made me go anyway. He locked me in this weird white room for a while. And then he sent me to live at a beach house. He said that everyone thought I was dead. That there was a funeral and everything. A ploy to keep me safe from Isabella. He said Isabella was planning on killing me. And I was scared of that. But I was also scared of my dad. And I was scared because my dad also made it very clear that if I somehow got away, he’d kill my bodyguard.”

Matt shook his head. “Your bodyguard? But I saw him that Friday. He answered the door and he was crying. He…”

“That must have been Donnelley. Miller was the one with me.” Her bottom lip trembled when she said his name. “You came for me on Friday?”

“Brooklyn, I never should have left you that night. I never should have said what I said. But I needed time to cool off. I tried to call you the next morning and you didn’t answer. I came over to your dad’s house right away and he said you’d…he said you died in surgery.”

She looked down at our intertwined hands. “Is that when you asked for it back?”

“Asked for what back?”

“Your aunt’s ring.”

“What?” I shook my head. “I didn’t ask for the ring back.”

She stared at me. “My dad said that you asked for it back right away. That you still wanted to get married one day.”

“No.” Was this a sick joke? “Your father broke the news to me and forced the ring into my hand. He told me that you would have wanted me to have it back. And after your funeral, I came here and buried it next to your tombstone. So that it would be with you.”

There were tears in her eyes again. “Really?”

“Really.” I’d dug up the ring recently. Hoping it would somehow feel like getting my heart back. But it felt more like fate tonight. Like the universe somehow knew I’d need it again soon. That Brooklyn was coming back to me. That she was coming home. The ring was still getting cleaned at the jewelry store. But I’d have it back soon. It belonged with Brooklyn. It always had. And she wasn’t married to someone else. Which meant we still had a future. We had to.

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