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“You don’t understand. He threatened to hurt you?—”
He stopped and turned to me. “I don’t know if that’s true. But even if it is, you should have told me that. How can I ever trust you if you’d keep something like that from me?”
“I did it to protect you!” I wiped my face. “That’s the only reason!”
“I don’t need your protection,” he said, his face dark and a mask of pain. “I needed your loyalty.”
“You have it.” I started sobbing. “You have it. Please don’t leave me.” I felt like a hysterical child, inconsolable unless he gave me what I wanted:him. All I wanted was Cole and for him not to leave me.
“Clearly, that’s not true. Enough lying, Jenny. Fooling me once was bad enough. But this—this is unforgivable,” Cole said. “This is goodbye. Don’t follow me out here. I’ve been humiliated enough.”
He stalked away without a backward glance.
I stood there, crying. I longed to run after him, but he’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me. I’d explained myself. Cole didn’t care.
I’d crossed a line. I was dead to him.
It was all over. All of my dreams went up in a puff of smoke.
Before anyone could see my ruined face, I turned and fled back to our suite.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
jenny
I textedAudrey and told her I was heading back to Boston. I lied and said I was sick. I usually hated lying to the people in my real life, even white lies. But at this point? It was just another sin to add to the growing pile.
She knocked on my door a little while later. “Jenny?” she called. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live,” I croaked.
She knocked again. “Can I come in for a minute?”
“Nah, I think I’m contagious.”
“Jenny, open the door. I know Cole left. Please let me come in for a second,” Audrey pleaded.
Seeing my friend was the last thing I wanted. “Now isn’t a good time.”
“Then I’ll wait,” she snapped.
I knew Audrey—she would camp out in the hall outside my room. I begrudgingly opened the door. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I pleaded.
“Fine.” Audrey sailed past me and looked around the suite, which was a total mess. I’d started and stopped packing three times. My clothes and toiletries were strewn all over the bed. “What’s going on in here?”
“Every time I start packing, I start crying.” I sank onto the edge of the bed. “Everything’s just a mess.”
“What happened?” Audrey asked. “Cole texted James and told him he was flying back to Boston alone. He didn’t answer when James called.”
I shrugged. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Audrey put her hands on her hips. “I’m your best friend, Jenny. This is the second time you guys have broken up, so I think you should tell me what’s going on. You two seem happy together, so this doesn’t make sense to me.”
I sighed. “We were happy together, but it’s complicated. I don’t think it’s meant to be.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re from two different worlds,” I said lamely.
