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Victoria
The knock on my door comes both too soon and painfully late. I feel like I’ve been shut in here forever, but I’m also not ready to be thrown out on my ass.
It's too late for worries like those, however. Whatever he’s got to say, whatever the consequences of this are going to be, I have to take them. I have to stand tall and walk into the next chapter of my life. One that doesn’t include the man I want so badly.
I inhale long and slow, exhale even slower. “Come in.”
“Hey.”
My eyes shoot to the door and away again just as quickly. I busy myself stuffing clothes in my bag.
Ainsley.
“You can stop packing.”
I do stop, due to the sheer shock his words bring. “Why?”
“You don’t need to pack and run away. He’s gone.”
Cold dread sinks through my body as I absorb his words and what they mean. “What?”
“He left. A few minutes ago. He’s headed back to the city. I’m about to hop a boat to Faraday, so you don’t need to leave if you don't want to. I mean, the house will just be empty. You can stay as long as you want.”
“He’s…he’s not coming back?” Shame be damned. I can’t keep the tears from my eyes or my voice.
“I don’t think so, Vicki. He had some kind of work thing that was going to take him back soon anyway, so he just took off early.”
I slump against the bed from where I sit on the floor, facing the window. Facing away from Ainsley. I hear him climb on the bed and lay down. When I glance up, his face is looking right at mine.
“Vicki—”
Just the soft tone of his voice is enough to make me ill. This is what my life is going to be like now. People finding out what I’ve done and lecturing me. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Yeah, well, it sounds like you two have done a lot of not talking about things, and that got you into a pretty big mess, didn’t it.”
He’s not wrong. “Yeah.”
“So, let’s talk.” He flops onto his back to face the ceiling. “I took off like an asshole and you shacked up with my dad.”
I roll my eyes and start to stand up, but he catches me and pulls me to a seat on the bed next to him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I won’t be a jerk. It’s just a lot to process.”
“I know.”
“You knew, though, the whole time. Right? You must have.”
“Yeah, I knew.”
“So…”
I heave out a huge sigh. I guess I’m going to have to get into this eventually. “It started so stupid. I was pissed about a picture you posted with another girl and decided to tell him what a dick you were.”
“But he charmed you instead.”
“I mean, yeah.”
He shrugs. “I get it. He’s a charming guy. My whole life, women have tried to get him to pay attention to them, but he never did. He was so focused on me.”
“After a while, I just couldn't walk away from him.”
