Page 105 of Sweetheart: Part One

I was a mess when I staggered from the limo. I had to get myself together before I could even consider the possibility of walking back to their house.

There had been one horrible moment when I thought…Fuck.

That Alastor would finally… I shook, hugging myself, not able to consider it.

I’d avoided it.

Somehow.

Still, I didn’t think I could face my mates ever again.

If they knew what had just happened, they’d never want me.

The limo drove off, and I remained on the curbside for an age, shame burning my system.

I hated him.

I hated him for what he’d turned me into.

Perhaps I could live like that, if I wasn’t reminded of the possibility of more.

What Drake offered. What Love, Rook, and even Ebony offered me.

The chance for more than this.

It was a knife, lodged in my throat since the first day in their house. The reality that may never be. A reality that would be nothing but a taunt if I failed, and I ended up back with him.

If my fated mates weren’t willing to give them what they were asking for.

Still, I had no choice.

It wasn’t until the shadows stretched across the street from trimmed bushes, and my tears had long dried, did I finally stand. I tugged my phone from my pocket and checked my reflection.

Tonight, I realised, was supposed to be Love’s night. But he would already be in his room.

Fuck.

I was too late.

I didn’t think I could face him anyway, after what had just happened.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Dear Love: Can’t we have this, always?

LOVE

Every few evenings, Vex tormented me.

I thought she’d give up, but she hadn’t.

She appeared with her offer every fourth night, kneeling at my bedside.

One word.

That’s all it would take, and she would be mine. If she believed this was the way to get to me, she was absolutely right.

It was torture.

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