Chapter 53 (1/2)

“I’m not a mind reader, Tessa. What are you confused about?”

A lump forms in my throat. “This. Us. I don’t know what to do. About us. About your betrayal.” We’ve just started this conversation, and I’m already on the verge of tears.

A little harshly, he says, “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.”

He calls me out. “Yes, you do.”

There are a lot of things that I need to hear him say before I can be sure of what I want to do. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to stay with me. I want you to forgive me and give me another chance. I know I’ve asked you too many times, but please, just give me one more chance. I can’t be without you. I’ve tried, and I know you have, too. There isn’t anyone else for either of us. If it’s not us, it’s nothing—and I know that you know that, too.” His eyes are glassy when he finishes, and I wipe my tears away.

“You hurt me, so terribly, Hardin.”

“I know, baby, I know I did. I would give anything to take that back,” he says, then looks down at the bed with a strange expression. “Actually I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t change anything. Well, I would have told you sooner, obviously,” he says. I snap my head up. He brings his up and stares right into me. “I wouldn’t take it back, because we wouldn’t have been together if I hadn’t done such a fucked-up thing. Our paths would have never really crossed, not in the way that has bonded us together so tightly. Even though it’s destroyed my life, without that stupid, evil bet, I wouldn’t have had a life at all. I’m sure that makes you hate me even more, but you wanted the truth. And that’s the truth.”

Looking into Hardin through his green eyes, I don’t know what to say.

Because when I think about it—really think about it—I know I wouldn’t change anything either.

Chapter thirty-three

HARDIN

I’ve never been so honest with anyone before. But I want everything to be out on the table.

She starts crying and asks softly, “How will I know that you won’t hurt me again?”

I could tell she was trying to hold her tears in the whole time, but I’m glad she can’t anymore. I needed to see some emotion from her . . . she’s been so cold lately. So unlike her. I used to be able to tell what she was thinking by her eyes alone. Now a wall is up, blocking me from reading her the way only I can. I pray to God that the time we spent together today will work in my favor.