Chapter 129 (1/2)

“None of this was ever supposed to happen.”

“You wrote a book about us and shopped it around to publishers. How was that not intentional?”

“No, I mean all of this. You and I, everything.” The air is humid, and I’m finding it harder than I expected to get the words out. “This year has been an entire lifetime for me. I have learned so much about myself and about life and about how life should be. I had this fucked-up view of everything. I hated myself, I hated everyone around me.”

She remains silent, but I can tell by the trembling of her bottom lip that she’s doing her best to keep a straight face.

“I know you don’t understand, not many people do, but the worst feeling in the entire fucking world is hating yourself, and that’s what I dealt with every single day. That wasn’t an excuse for the shit I pulled. I should have never treated you the way that I did, and you had every damn right to leave me the way you did. I only hope that you will read the entire book before making your decision. You can’t judge a book without reading from cover to cover.”

“I’m trying not to judge, Hardin, I’m really not, but this is too much. I fell out of this pattern, and I didn’t see this coming, and I still can’t wrap my head around it.” Her head shakes as if she’s trying to clear the rapid thoughts that I see firing behind those beautiful eyes.

“I know, baby. I know.” When I reach for one of her hands and wrap my fingers around it, she winces. I gently turn her hand over to examine the welts covering the skin of her palm. “You okay?”

She nods, allowing me to trace the wound with my fingertip.

“Who would even want to read it? I can’t believe so many publishers want it.” Tessa looks away from me, focusing on the city that somehow keeps moving around us, as busy as ever.

“A lot of people.” I shrug, stating the truth.

“Why? It’s so . . . not a typical love story. I’ve only read a little bit of it, and I can see how dark it is.”

“Even the damned need their stories told, Tess.”

“You aren’t damned, Hardin,” she says, despite the betrayal she must still be feeling.