Page 142 of Fame & Rhythm

And he kisses her back.

Time slows.

Everything blurs except them.

Right there.

In front of me.

I can’t breathe.

I actually can’t breathe.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Annie

They pull apart, and he’s smiling at her while she casually wipes her flaming red lipstick from his mouth. My chest tightens so sharply my eyes start to sting. I move to set my champagne on the bar, but I miss. It slips from my fingers and drops to the grass, the glass mercifully intact, but the liquid spills out. I can’t help thinking that’s exactly what my heart is doing.

“Annie,” Ella says.

“I can’t,” is all I manage before I turn and bolt from the gazebo.

She doesn’t follow, and I head straight for the back of the yard, to the one place that has always felt like ours. I reach the willow tree just in time to fold in on myself, sobbing into my hands.

He’s done.

He’s finally moved on.

I knew this day would come. It’s been over a year and a half… twenty-one long, painful months since I ended things. It was inevitable. I just didn’t expect it to hurt like this.

I sink against the trunk, dragging in shaky breaths. The party is far enough away that no one will hear me. No one except Ella, and she’ll know exactly where I’ve gone. It’s always here or my room.

This place used to mean everything.

Now it’s where I come to remember… and to regret.

I used to wonder if he still loved me. If maybe, somehow, he always had. But seeing him kiss Amber answers that question.

I’ve lost him. For good.

No amount of time or distance is going to fix what I broke.

We’re not fixable.

Not anymore.

Tears blur my vision as they fall faster, my breathing uneven, my hands trembling. I didn’t know it was possible to hurt like this. Watching him with someone else feels like something inside me has cracked wide open.

And the worst part?

This is on me.

I pushed him away.

I ended it before we even had a real chance.

I made the choice, and now I have to live with it while he moves on, while he lives the life he was always meant to live.