Chapter 65

When he walks back towards me, I look away, trying to push it down and not feel affected, but it has cut me deep inside. Eyes misting and throat aching.

Crushingly so.

Knowing that even if he treats me differently than he did before, it’s still not how he treats women he cares about. I have to swallow the fresh wave of tears as they hit me hard in the back of my throat, and my chest tightens. Stupid to ever have let myself believe this was more. I realise somewhere deep down, I must have still been harbouring it somewhere. No matter how much I have denied it to myself.

“What are you reading?” Alexi moves back causally and slides beside me, oblivious to my fragile mood. He lifts the edge of my book, which has fallen flat in my lap even though I am staring blankly, and I get flustered by his sudden attention.

“Umm, I don’t know. I grabbed it because it was pretty.” It’s not a lie. I saw it on the shelf of the shop I was in yesterday and grabbed it because I lik