You Belong With Me (AFTR Book 2)

Chap. 21

Driving to San Francisco was already a hard enough, five hours of traffic and annoyance.

But doing it in the early hours of the morning after a sleepless night? Well that just made everything so much worse.

Dylan was sitting on the front porch when I pulled up, which was odd because I didn't tell him I was coming.

I stepped out of the car, my stomach twisting into knots.

He stood up as well, placing his cup of coffee off to the side. He'd clearly had a sleepless night as well.

"Hey," I said, ascending the porch steps.

"Hey," he answered, his voice hoarse.

And then we both sat down, because neither one of us knew where to go from there.

A couple of moments of silence passed, and then it clear to me that Dylan had been up waiting for me. He knew I'd come.

"I'm sorry," Dylan said, looking over at me.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What?"

"I'm sorry," he repeated, his voice sad and forlorn.

"For what?"

"I could see that you..." he trailed off for a moment, staring off towards his driveway. "That you still had feelings for him. But the selfish part of me thought that if I just kept showing you how much I loved you, that you'd eventually love me the way you love him."

I closed my eyes, my heart shattering.

"Dylan," I said, turning to face him.

He nodded, his eyes heavy with sadness.

"You were never a mistake," I continued. "Because I do love you." I took his hand in mine and placed the engagement ring in it. "But I'm in love with someone else." I wrapped his hand around the engagement ring, a single tear falling down my cheek. "And you deserve someone who will love you the way you love them."

He stared at his hand which now enclosed the engagement ring, biting his bottom lip in silence.

"I'm the one that's sorry," I whispered, kissing his cheek before leaving him sitting on his front porch steps.

I made it out of the driveway and to a Wal-Mart parking lot down the street before I began to sob, my body shaking.

I'd done a lot of things I regret in my life, but I was going to start making them right.

That was step one, breaking things off with Dylan. He deserved someone so much better, someone that will give him the affection and attention he deserves.

And now it was time for step two.

I calmed myself down and wiped my eyes, taking in a few calming breaths before I started back out on the road.

I shakily took my phone in my hand and pressed Zach's contact.

It rang through and went to voicemail.

Was he ignoring my call?

I placed my phone in my cup holder and turned up the radio, deciding to wait about half an hour before I tried again.

I made it about seven minutes.

But when I tried calling him again, it rang through and went to voicemail.

That's when I was sure he was ignoring my calls.

So I called Trey.

"Hello?" Trey asked, picking up on the third ring.