Chapter 34
*Jake*
I’m being held back by Logan and Cam as I watch that asshole get down on one knee, with a fucking ring in his hand, holding hers, asking the girl that I love, to marry him.
And I can’t do shit about it.
Her eyes are shut, and when she opens them, she says something to him. He stands up wiping his fucking face. She says something else and he looks to the ground, nodding, and then they leave.
They walk away from this place and leave.
And I have no idea what the fuck just happened.
***
It’s 3 in the goddamn morning and she’s still not in her room. I should know, because that’s where I am, waiting for her.
Like an abandoned fucking puppy.
Finally, I hear a car door slam and I rush to look outside. She pays the cab driver and starts her way upstairs.
She has to know I’m here because the lights on.
When she opens the door, she pauses when she sees me, then walks past me, like I’m not even fucking here.
She gets in the shower, and 5 minutes later she’s out, dressed in pajamas and crawls into bed.
“Are you going to marry that asshole?” I ask, because I need to know, so that I can prepare my head for the moment she breaks my heart.
“No, Jake, I’m not.”
Thank fuck.
“So what the fuck? You just leave? Don’t bother calling? You didn’t bring your phone with you. Where were you all night, Kayla? Did you fuck him? For old times sake? Just one last hurrah?”
She starts crying and I know I’m being a dick.
I calm myself down a little.
“I really want to feel okay about all of this, Kayla. But I don’t know what the fuck is going on. You have to tell me something.”
“What? Like you tell me?” she spits out.
“What do you mean?”
“Marisa?”
Fuck.
“You didn’t tell me you had a supermodel girlfriend that was supposed to be your prom date. Instead you end up with me. The stupid girl who’s boyfriend had been screwing her best friend for two years and was too fucking clueless to know. And you take pity on me and hang out with me. Then my fucking family are murdered, I have no one, so now you’re stuck with some strange girl sleeping in your fucking bed, taking over your fucking life and you can’t get fucking rid of me.” She wants to yell but she’s keeping it together.
“She wasn’t my girlfriend,” I whisper.
She laughs once. “That’s it? That’s all you have to fucking say?”
I start to speak but she cuts me off. “We talked,” she says, exhausted. “James and I, we talked. That’s all. He asked my dad permission to marry me. I didn’t know. I wanted to know what my dad had said to him, because I need a memory of him, of them, of my family. Because I’m starting to forget them…” Her voice breaks as tears flow and a sob overcomes her entire body.
“I feel like I’m starting to forget them, Jake, like they’re fading away and I don’t want that. What your mom did with this room… for me, I felt like they were here with me. I could even smell the memories in my blankets and clothes. But it’s all going. The memories are fading and sometimes…” she stops, closes her eyes and takes a breath… “sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can’t see them anymore, and I don’t want to forget them. He helped me remember them, Jake. That’s all.”
I crawl into bed with her and tuck her head under my chin.
“You’ll never forget them, Kayla. They’ll always live in your heart.”
Its quiet for the longest time as she cries quietly into me. When the sounds stop and I think she’s fallen asleep, she whispers, “Jake, when we get to the house, I’m going to find a job, and then I’m moving out. I can’t be this broken girl anymore.”
I don’t say anything, because fuck, what can I say? It’s the last thing I ever wanted.