Page 97 of Mr. Brightside

“We can stay married, but only on paper, until the two years are up,” he offers resolutely. “This? Whatever this was?” He points to himself, then to me. “This is over.”

I choke back a sob as the gravity of it all slams into me.

“Cory, please…”

He shakes his head, closes his eyes for a long moment, then opens them again. And all I see in his expression is resolve. “Let me go,” he begs.

But I can’t do that. I won’t.

“Baby, you can’t leave,” I plead. “What we have? How I feel? This is real. This is more real than anything I’ve ever felt before. What I didn’t tell you is that I—”

“Don’t,” he hisses, shutting me down before I can utter the words I’ve been too hesitant to say to his face until now. Fuck. Why did I wait?

“Don’t say it,” he repeats. “Don’t you dare.”

I hate fighting with him. But I have to try.

“But I do. Cory, I swear to you, I do. I’ve known it for a while now; I was just too chicken to say it out loud. This is the most real thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, but I had to admit it to myself before I could tell you. You can’t leave, because I need you. You can’t leave, because Iloveyou.”

His face twists up in pain. In agony. In total and utter anguish.

And all I can think about is how I did that.

I caused his pain. I’m responsible for everything he’s feeling. I’m the asshole who messed this up and hurt him in inexplicable ways.

I bury down my own hurt and reach out for him.

But instead of letting me hold him, he meets my gaze and slaughters me.

“If that’s all true, then let me leave.”

He takes a tentative step toward me. And even though I know I should move out of his way, I can’t make myself budge.

I swallow past the lump in my throat and make my final plea.

“I don’t want you to go.”

He brushes past me without making eye contact.

“Now you know how I felt last night.”

Chapter 41

Cory

SheknewIwascoming, yet she still looks shocked to see me on her doorstep. Maybe not shocked to see me—but taken aback by the state I’m in, perhaps.

“Hi,” I choke out, my voice cracking pathetically as I push down the tears that have been threatening to spill since the moment I pulled out of the garage at the condo and started the solo drive to the airport.

Tori’s expression softens, her eyes full of sympathy as she reaches across the threshold and pulls me into a hug.

“Cor,” she soothes as she tightens her hold on me.

I exhale and soak in the empathy emanating from her.

Coming to Virginia like this is beyond out of character for me. But I didn’t know where else to go. My abuela and my parents know about Jake, but they don’t know how things have evolved or just how deeply I was in it. Lia and I have been on rocky ground since the confrontation in the parking lot a few weeks back, so I can’t open up to her, either.

I need a friend. And yeah, okay. Maybe I want a friend who knows Jake better than most people because I know she’ll understand what I’m going through without me having to explain just how magnetic that man really is. It would hurt too much, honestly, to have to try to capture his essence in words.