Avery Camden thinks she can walk out of her boyfriend, James Grant's, life after cheating on him with his best friend. For her, the conditions that led to their breakup aren't a beautiful memory.
When barely a year later, her family's business is ha...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Avery, you have to understand that-"
"Did you or did you not?" I cut him off, a sad frown drawn deeply onto my lips. I just needed the confirmation from him. I needed some sort of closure. After what I did to him, yes, I deserved to rot in sadness but him coming back? I couldn't take that.
James but the inside of his cheek, looking away from me to the window afar off. "Yes," he admitted in a defeated tone. "Yes, I did."
Closure. That was it. I sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto the sides of the table because it felt like I was going to faint. All over again, I was suffering through that night again. Almost six months. Almost half a year. Still not enough to get through the pain.
I suddenly felt nauseous.
Was this it? What James wanted? For me to feel what he'd felt. Heartbreak all over again. To some it wouldn't seen like a big deal but God did it hurt. It hurt like hell. I just couldn't look at his face anymore. I needed him out of my life. I needed to get out of here.
The chair made a scraping sound as I pushed it back and stood up. Another tear escaped my eye but I sucked in my stomach and sniffled. He would not get the pleasure of seeing be break in public.
"We're done, James." Another humorless laugh left me and I wiped the back of my hand against my cheek to swipe away the tears. I nodded. "Revenge must feel really good. Pat was right though. I did get hurt. I let myself believe that..." That we could be fixed. That we were fine.
James hurriedly got up and walked to me, grabbing my wrist but not hard enough that it hurt. When he spoke, he sounded dangerous, his voice low. "What did Pat tell you?"
I completely ignored him.
"What I don't understand is how she'd think that someone as conniving and selfish as you could get hurt through any of this." I was shouting now, beckoning on the attention of everyone in the restaurant. Gritting my teeth as I spat venom. Heads turned my way and people froze to watch the scene unfold.
James took my hand and yanked me to him. And as much as I pulled back, my form stumbled into him. "Listen to me, Avery."
"No." My voice was thick with emotion. Raspy even. I placed my hands flat on his chest and pushed, stepping away from him with a scowl and a tear stained face. Mascara was probably dripping down my face by now but I didn't care. "You listen to me, Jameson Grant. This," I pointed between the both of us. "I am done with this. I'm done with your games. I am done with your stupid revenge plan for something you never even talked to me about."
"That's why I came back," offered James. Taking a step towards me. I stepped back, putting up a hand to stop him. His gaze softened drastically. "I wanted us to finally talk about it. But not like this."
"Was that before or after your revenge plan?"
I watched him struggle with his words, unable to find the right ones to use. Finally, he settled for an exhausted exhale and drawn eyebrows. Like he was in physical pain.
