Page 69 of Apparently, I’m Torture

“Look, I’m glad you passed your exam, but after that night, the last thing I want–” I waved a finger between us “–is anything like this to happen again. I hate this, Lilly. I hate everything about being around you. I can’t take it anymore and I need this to end.”

Her lips parted, her face went slack, and I loathed myself that much more making her voice tremble. “Fine. Don’t take the job at South. I’m better off without you anyway.”

Lilly turned and walked out, taking hold of her coat on the way. “I’m taking a half day, Uncle.”

I was suffocating, every inch of me gripped tight as she pulled on her coat and wiped at her cheeks. This felt so fucking wrong, but Mia was right. She needed to know where I stood. I was never going to take that job at South Bronx Classical.

As the door shut behind her, Tristan rounded on me, his voice low and irritated. “What happened?”

“I told Lilly I didn’t want to be around her anymore.”

He jerked back, shocked. “Why did you tell her that?”

Was he serious? He knew why. He knew better than anyone.

“Because I can’t take it anymore. It hurts. Loving her is killing me. She’ll never feel the same, so why drag this out? She’s moving on, and I am too. I need to get over her.”

He shook his head and turned a pace in the small room. “Not like this. You can’t just let her think… what the hell are you doing anyway? Would it have been the worst thing to just tell her how you really feel?”

“Tristan, she chose Trevor. She left with him.”

Something went out of him and his whole body went slack. “But if you just tell her how you feel–”

I threaded my fingers through my hair and tugged.

“Don’t you get it? She doesn’t want me, she wants him. It’s done, it’s over. I’m not putting myself through this anymore.”

My voice cracked and I dropped my hands as Tristan pulled me into him. His hold folded around my shoulders as my vision blurred.

“I need a clean break. I need it to stop hurting. I need to leave.”

Now

Chapter 26

Lilly

Thursday Morning

Inside the truck

I was stunned. Numbed. Completely and totally dead inside.

I was back in the truck. A stoic Shawn was by my side. The truck was full of beautifully branded coffee cups. He drove, and I stayed quiet.

Sixty thousand cups sat behind me, jostling in their palleted perfection. They bumped against the metal wall, and each thud made the roaring in my ears louder.

I screwed up. I didn’t know how, but I must have.

“What’re we going to do with thirty thousand extra cups?” I squeaked.

Shawn was practically throttling the steering wheel. “We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry.”

“It was my email. The order came from my email address. But I never sent it.”

“I believe you.”

My fingers were lax, barely holding onto the printed copy of the email I’d supposedly sent to the vendor. Attached to it was a copy of the updated and approved invoice. Shawn shook his head when he saw it, claiming it was a fake.