Page 258 of Fame & Chaos

“And it better not be, because if I wake up tomorrow and find myself back in my beige, ordinary life without you…” I shake my head. “I don’t think I could survive losing you again.” He leans back just enough to look into my eyes. “I love you so much.”

Emotion catches in my throat.

I’ve heard those words almost every day for the past month. They’d just never come from the man I needed to hear them from, and I smile through the sting behind my eyes. “I love you too.”

He kisses me again, slow this time, as though neither of us wants to rush another second together. I melt into him, letting months of heartache disappear beneath the warmth of his embrace.

Being here…

Being with him…

It feels like I’ve finally found my way home.

Some things were simply meant to be. And Caleb McCormack-Slade…

Even through the chaos, especially because of the chaos—he was always meant to be mine.

The drive back to Caleb’s house is strangely familiar.

Nothing has changed.

My toothbrush is still sitting in the bathroom exactly where I left it months ago, which is equal parts unsettling and comforting.

Over dinner, Caleb tells me everything.

About Sasha.

About the lies.

About the night she framed him into believing they’d slept together.

About the stalking.

About every twisted game she’d played to keep us apart.

Then he tells me what really happened the night I ended things.

She hadn’t been in his hotel room at all.

She’d been out in the hallway.

By the time he finishes explaining everything, one truth is painfully clear.

Every time we’d fallen apart… Sasha had been standing somewhere in the middle, pulling the strings.

Then he tells me about Germany.

About losing control.

About wrapping his hands around her throat.

About Hux paying her to disappear and keep quiet.

Tears stream down my face as I listen, not because I’m frightened of Caleb—I never could be—but because it came to that final place for him.

I’m horrified by what happened, and I don’t excuse it for a second, but I understand how completely broken he must have been to reach that point. Losing me twice because of the same woman finally pushed him beyond his limit.

I’m just grateful he stopped before it was too late, and I pray I never have to hear Sasha’s name again.