Still Breathing [Jacob Black]

Chapter One

"So you cheated on me." It wasn't really a question at this point.

"No," he gasped. "Never. I would never do that to you. But that is why I'm breaking up with you. Because I can't stay away from her. I tried. I swear I did. We've talked, though, and I can't deny it anymore. There's no getting away from this. So we have to end our marriage, honey. I'm so sorry."

As hard as I tried to remain composed, I couldn't keep from trembling. "How long ago?"

It wasn't a full question, but he understood what I was asking. "About a week ago."

A week. One week. Seven days. That was it, and he was already throwing me away to give himself to her. We'd been together since middle school—five years now, almost six. We'd gotten married not long after I turned eighteen. He'd asked me, wooing me with sweet words and precious promises. I'd thought I could trust him. In all the time I'd known him, he'd never given me a reason for doubt.

So now I was down to two ways to interpret this—either he was an asshole all along, set on making my life a living hell...or there was something crazy going on with whoever this girl was and he was trying to do his best to let me down easy.

I almost snorted. Easy. Right. Because asking me to sit down for a serious talk and then opening the conversation with "I adore you, City, you know that, but...we need to get a divorce" really made this less difficult.

But I loved Elijah. That hadn't changed just because he found someone new. And I wanted him to be happy. So I said, "Alright."

His eyes snapped open even wider. "What?"

I shrugged. "Alright. If you need out of this marriage—if you need this other woman to be happy—then alright. I don't know anything about divorce, though. I never imagined..." I'd truly thought we'd defy the odds and make it. Yes, we were young. He was only a year older than I was. But I loved him with everything in me, and I never believed we'd get to the point where we would need to split.

Then again, we hadn't. He had.

He shook his head quickly. "No, I'll look into it. You can keep—"

"I don't want to talk about that yet," I cut him off. "And I can't keep this place. I'd never be able to afford the mortgage on my own. You know that." I still had to graduate from high school. He'd been done late last spring and jumped right into a job with his father running the modest mall in Port Angeles. They had an office in Forks where most of the work could be done but even so, PA wasn't so far that they couldn't swing by if needed. So he'd landed right into a steady, well-paying job while doing some business classes online at the community college. He'd laid it all out for me when I turned eighteen the September following his graduation. He'd explained how we would work out. How I could finish school and we could get married and he'd take care of me and we'd be together...

I'd believed him. I'd seen the stars in his eyes, how completely he adored me. And I'd returned those feelings tenfold.

So I said yes. We were married by Halloween. And now, apparently, we were going to be broken up by Valentine's Day.

"We'll figure something out," he said, dragging his hands through his hair. "I promised to take care of you. I'm not just going to leave you on the streets, City."

My eyes narrowed. "I do have somewhere to go, you know."

"You're not going back with your parents," he replied immediately, his eyes narrowing back at me. "No way am I letting you return to that shit hole."