Page 2 of Sweet Redemption

“Why do you care, Serena? You said no.” His words are so damn quiet, they should be hard to hear.

They’re not.

Every word shatters my world a little more.

The ones he says and all the ones left unsaid between us.

I want him to yell at me.

To be angry. Furious.

Fight with me the way we always have.

That was always us.

But not now.

Not this time.

Never again.

This time, I’m not met with anger. I’m met with indifference.

And my God, that hurts so much worse.

We stare at each other in silence. Two complete strangers who know every single thing there is to know about one another. Until I finally break.

“You said she was just your friend,” I whisper, knowing I should hang up. Knowing there’s no fixing this. Not this time. I finally pushed him away hard enough for him not to come back.

I did this. I begged for this. For us to be over.

I should be relieved.

But I can’t be.

Not tonight.

“Hendrix . . .” the voice interrupting us is soft and sweet with a familiar lilt I’d know anywhere. I’ve heard it a million times since Hendrix met Brittany his freshman year at Kroydon University. She’s been his best friend since then, and that was okay.

She had his secrets.

She saw him every day.

But I had his heart.

Until I didn’t.

Until now.

“Go back to bed, Britt.” He looks away from me, and I can’t breathe. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay . . .”

When he looks back, we stare at each other in an almost eerie silence. My heartbeat dying inside my chest the only sound as Brittany walks away. “You said you were just friends.”

“We were—we are,” he corrects himself, and my knuckles turn white as they grip the marble counter, holding me up as my legs give out beneath me. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“She’s pregnant with your baby, Hendrix.” I choke on a sob but refuse to give it voice. “That’s not something that happens between friends,” I bite back, unwilling to give him my pain but not bothering to mask the anger. “With. Your. Baby.”