Page 49 of Amethyst

She turns away. “What I have to say to you isn’t easy, either.”

I breathe in again. “I’m just going to say it, Jen. I’m leaving Columbus.”

She gasps and turns back to face me. “What?”

“Yeah. I got an amazing job opportunity in Chicago. I start next week.”

“Next week? No.” She bites her lip and looks away again.

“Yes. I took it. It’s a great opportunity. Not just financially but…”

“But what?”

“To get away, Jen. You see…”

“No, I don’t see.” She grabs my shoulders. “I need you, Max. I need youhere.”

I sigh. I expected this reaction. I feel like a heel for leaving her when she just returned because I think she probablydoesneed me. But I can’t give up this opportunity.

“You’ll still have me. I’ll be a phone call away, and if there’s anything you desperately need, I’ll be on the first flight out. I promise.”

“No, you don’t understand.”

“I do understand, Jen.” God, those eyes. Those amethyst eyes. I look away from her gaze. “I mean, I don’t. I’ll never fully understand what you went through. But believe me when I say I wish I could take it all away from you. I wish it had happened to me instead.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t. I don’t wish that. I can’t bear the thought of you ever going through anything so horrible.”

I swallow. “That’s the thought I bear every day, Jen. I wish I could change it. I’d do anything to change it.”

“Then don’t leave, Max. Please.”

I sigh. “I have to, Jenna. I already gave my word.”

She grabs me then, smashes our mouths together.

I don’t even think. I open my lips and let her tongue meet mine.

The kiss is full of passion, but it’s not coming from me.

I break away. “Jenna, don’t.”

“No, I can’t let you go. Max, give us a chance.”

“We have a chance, Jenna. I will always be your best friend. That is unchanging.”

“But it’s not what I want!”

I widen my eyes, my heart nearly stopping. “What are you saying, Jen?”

“I… It was a mistake to ask you to sleep with me. I was using you, Max. I shouldn’t have done that, not without talking to you more first.”

My heart drops. “It’s okay. It wasn’t a hardship, Jen.”

If she only knew…

“But the thing is, Max, I’m not sorry.”

“I’m glad. The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you.”

---