Chapter 235
The words are right there on my tongue. Every reason why I would never, not in this lifetime, give her a chance… But then everything inside me freezes.
I try to fight the thoughts. Try to bury them, to forget them, but they keep resurfacing like an unwanted, fucking rash.
My hand clenches. My heart starts racing. No matter how fucking hard I try, nothing blocks them out.
Why is it that with every woman who showed interest in me, Chloe was always the victim and they were always the villains? Why were they always the ones picking on her? Targeting her? Being cruel and dismissive?
Every single one of them. Sierra, Juliett and all the others… Why is it that they were always the ones that were cruel?
Then another thought slams into me so hard I almost fall on my ass.
What if she painted herself that way? What if she cast herself as weak and vulnerable, while turning the others into monsters just to keep me from them? Just to make me feel sorry for her? Just to make me stay?
And if she went out of her way to paint everyone else as bad people, what does that make her?
I was so convinced the others were terrible. Sierra, especially. but what if I was wrong this entire time? What if Chloe was the problem all along and I was just too fucking stupid to see it?
The thoughts keep circling, unanswered questions looping endlessly in my mind like vultures waiting to tear something apart.
I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to dig any deeper. I don’t want to believe that the woman I loved. The woman I trusted wasn’t as sweet as I thought, because if she wasn’t, then everything I believed is a complete lie.
“Noah p>
Lilly’s voice pulls me back, and I realize I’d completely spaced out.
I stare at Juliett. Her brown eyes meet mine, and for the first time, I notice something beyond her usual confidence. There’s stubbornness there, yes, but also a softness I’ve never really paid attention to before.
Thinking back, I’ve never actually heard anyone say a bad thing about her. Sure, she comes on too strong. Sure, she doesn’t get along with Lilly, but every story I’ve heard about Juliett has been praise… Just like Sierra.
As if summoned by the thought, the door to the suite she shares with Lilly opens. Sierra steps out, eyes glued to her phone. She locks the door, then looks up and stops.
Her gaze moves quickly. Juliett. Lilly. Me. Then it lands on Juliett’s hand clinging to mine.
I don’t know what I expect to see. Jealousy. Anger. Anything… But there’s nothing. Fucking nothing.
She looks unbothered. Detached. Just like last night when she saw me with Juliett in the corridor after we arrived.
She remains by the door, like she isn’t quite sure what to do next.
And that’s when the thoughts hit me again.
She isn’t close to us, but I can still see the softness in her face and in her eyes. I hear everyone’s voices in my head, all telling me the same thing… She’s sweet.
I once thought that too. I even fell for her, but that was before she ripped my fucking heart to pieces.
I don’t care what these thoughts are trying to do. I won’t listen to them. I won’t let them change how I see Chloe.
Fuck it if she wasn’t as sweet as I believed. I won’t let anything tarnish her image, not now, not ever.
Chloe was there for me when I thought my world had ended. She’s the one who picked up the pieces of my heart after Sierra destroyed it.
And that’s the truth I’m choosing to hold onto.