Page 46 of BounBound By Scars

“And then she said,” he exhaled sharply, “that she’d always loved me, but not like that. That she just wanted to see if kissing me would change it. That dating me would…”

I didn’t realize I was shaking until I felt the tremor in my own voice. “But it didn’t.”

“No.” He gave me a flat, empty smile. “It didn’t. Not for her.”

My stomach twisted, my throat closing around the awful, disgusting realization. She never wanted him, not really. She loved him like a habit. Like something she never had to think about.

“She never loved me, really. Not inanyway,” he echoed my thoughts, voice quieter now. “Definitely not the way I loved her. She was comfortable with me. She trusted me. But I was just a safe option. Just one of the choices. Replaceable.”

I blinked rapidly against the sting in my eyes. I didnotlike where this was going.

“I asked her,” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper. “Why she never told me she had doubts. Why she let me believe we were real. She just said,‘I thought we were on the same page.’”

A heavy silence wrapped around us.

“That’s when I realized,” he said, jaw tightening, “that even after everything—after a years of friendship, months of dating, after kissing me, touching me… afterfuckingme—she only thought I was one of the options. Not even a top contender, might I add. I was just… there. Familiar. Safe. Fucking naive.”

His face twisted in self-disgust.

“And that was the day I decided that I would never,everlet that happen again.”

He finally looked at me then.

And he looked frustrated.

“I kept my mouth shut all these years, though,” his voice was hoarse. “I never said anything to you. I wanted to tell you.God!I wanted to tell you. But even telling you would’ve given you the wrong idea. It might have beeneverything. Or it would’ve reduced us tonothing.”

I tried to swallow past the burn in my throat.

“And then you kissed me,” he murmured, voice quieter now, but no less sharp. His jaw clenched, his fingers flexing at his sides. “And it confused the shit out of me, Lia. Because it was happening all over again. The woman I’m in love with—” his breath hitched, “—kissing me.”

His words should’ve made my heart soar. Should’ve had me saying everything I’d been keeping inside.

But instead, they burned.

“This isn’t the same,” I swore, voice trembling.

“Isn’t it?” His lips twisted into something bitter. “You kissed me, and when I didn’t give you what you wanted right away, you ran. To him. And now you’re with him. You made me into an option, Lia.”

Now,thatmade me fucking furious.

“I ran because you rejected me!” My voice rose before I could stop it. My body scrambling up before I could stop it.

His eyes flashed, his nostrils flaring like he was barely holding himself back.

“Then you should’ve fought me on it!” He snapped, got up, and took a sharp step toward me.

“Fought yo—what the fuck?” I demanded and paced away from him. “This is ridiculous. You told me you’d fuckingwingmanme.”

Turning back, I threw a hard glare at him. “And I have some self-respect, Kabir. This whole outburst? Fully avoidable. You’ve just landed us deep in the middle of miscommunicationhell!”

He exhaled sharply, hands threading through his damp hair, still fresh from the shower. When he looked back at me, his face was thunderous.

He bit out. “This is notmiscommunication. You don’t know what the fuck you want, Amelia. You never have.”

“That isnottrue,” I snapped.

“Isn’t it?” He let out a cold, humorless laugh. “You think I don’t see it? Beingmyclosest friend. Kissingme. And now you’re testing the waters with Sebastian? Nursing your wound of rejection?”