Page 104

I should’ve let it go to voicemail. I wanted to let it go to voicemail.

Instead, I swiped my thumb across the screen and brought the phone to my ear.

I said nothing.

For a moment, there was only breathing on the other end. A hesitation. And then—

“Rose.”

His voice was careful. Measured. Like he knew I had every right to hang up.

I should have.

But I didn’t.

“Thad,” I finally said, my own voice barely above a whisper.

He let out a slow breath, like he was relieved I’d answered. “I wasn’t sure you’d pick up.”

“Neither was I.”

A beat of silence.

“I think we should talk.” He spoke up.

I sat up, pressing my palm against my forehead, trying to push away the pounding that had started there. “There’s nothing left to say.”

“Come on,” he said, his voice dipping into that familiar mix of exasperation and charm, the same tone he’d used a hundred times before when he was trying to wear me down. “You don’t believe that.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.”

I clenched my jaw and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, staring at the wooden floor. “I’m not doing this.”

“Rose, listen to me,” he said, suddenly more urgent. “You need to come back home.”

My stomach dropped. A cold kind of nausea curled in my gut. “Home?” I repeated, my voice sharp.

“Yes. You’ve had your fun, but it’s time to stop running.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “That’s what you think this is? Fun?”

“I think you made a mistake.”

My throat tightened. I felt the walls of the room closing in, my vision tunneling in the way it always did when I talked to him for too long. “No, Thad. The mistake was staying there as long as I did.”

He sighed, deep and heavy. “Rose, don’t be overly dramatic.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping the phone so hard my fingers ached. “Is that why you called? To gaslight me into thinking I imagined everything?”

“I called because I care about you,” he said, too smooth, too easy. “Because you’re out there pretending this is some kind of fresh start when we both know it’s not. You don’t belong there. You belong with me.”

A cold chill ran through me.

“I’m your only option, Rose.”

The words landed like a punch to the gut.