Her mouth dropped open. “Are you…are you breaking up with me?”
He dropped his head and then kissed her forehead. “No.” He sighed heavily. “I love you, Trihn. I do. But until you let go of the past, I don’t know that you’ll ever trust me. And what is love without trust?”
She opened her mouth to say something to stop him, but he just kissed her again.
“We have a lot of promotion to do for the album and the tour. This was always going to be a short trip, but I wish it had ended under better circumstances.”
“Damon,” she whispered, “I love you.”
“I know.” He kissed the top of her head again. “I love you, too.”
And then he turned and walked away from her, taking her heart with him.
TRIHN STARED BLANKLY up at her ceiling.
She had been lying in bed all night, trying to figure out where everything had gone so horribly wrong. At some point, she must have drifted off from exhaustion, but when she awoke again, she continued staring and mostly stressing.
Damon was the best thing that had ever happened to her. That much, she was pretty certain of. He loved her for the person that she was, not the one who had crawled into a hole and buried her head after having her heart bruised and broken. He was there for her when she needed someone. He had fought for her from day one.
And she had run him off, too.
He’d said they weren’t broken up, yet she felt numb, as if they had.
She had gotten so worked up about Chloe, and their argument had escalated so quickly that she hadn’t even stopped to hear what he was saying. He didn’t want Chloe. If he had, there would have been no reason for him to pretend to want Trihn. But she hadn’t been able to see that last night.
Between Chloe grabbing on to him, them laughing together, and the thought of the music video and tour, Trihn’s blood had boiled, frying any rational thought.
Chloe just seemed starved for attention from a real human being. She acted…young. That was the only word Trihn could use to describe her. Despite growing up while acting in Disney and then moving to Hollywood for music and film, she still seemed so…young.
And Trihn had just let the whole thing get to her instead of seeing how much Chloe probably just needed a friend, and Damon was a good guy.
He wouldn’t cheat on Trihn. He knew what that would do to her, and he wasn’t that guy. He wasn’t Preston.
Maybe Damon was right. Maybe she had been comparing him to Preston, comparing everyone to Preston. And all that had done was drive her completely insane.
Preston was her first boyfriend, her first love. But it had been a charade. Maybe he had been into her. Maybe it had all been a game. She didn’t even want to know at this point. But what she did know was that it hadn’t been anything like falling in love with Damon.
When she had started dating Neal, she had been so afraid to let other people in. She’d never told Neal about what had happened with Preston. She’d never let Neal see her vulnerable like that. And in turn, she had let him emotionally abuse her. Their relationship was like trying to fit a round piece into a square hole.
But from day one, she and Damon had made perfect sense. It was her own fears and doubts that had created the wedge between them.
Letting go of her past wouldn’t happen overnight. But if she didn’t start today, then she could lose Damon, and that wasn’t acceptable.
Resolved to make this better, Trihn reached for her phone, and it immediately started ringing in her hand. She startled, sitting up in bed and looking at the display.
A smile lit her face. Always in sync.
“Hey,” she said into the phone.
“Trihn,” Damon said with a breath. “I was up all night, thinking about you.”
“Me, too.”
“Shit, I am so sorry. I should never have left last night.”
“No, you were right. I understand why you did it.”
“You do? I still don’t,” he said quickly. “I should have stayed. I should have been there for you. I should have reminded you a thousand times that you were the one for me instead of blowing up on you. You can’t help your fears, and all I did was make them worse.”
“Stop,” she said. “Please stop. You don’t need to apologize. I should have trusted you instead of freaking out about Chloe.”
“But I should have drawn a bigger line in the sand with her. There should have been no reason for you to ever doubt that something was going on. Ever.”
“I know. I wish I hadn’t freaked out. I don’t like that the anxiety gets ahold of me like that. I’ve just never known anything besides cheating and heartbreak,” she told him. “It’s not fair to you for me to assume that you’re going to be the same. I don’t want to compare you, and I’m going to be better. I’m just trying to figure out this loving relationship thing.”
“Well, I’m still going to be here. We’ll figure it out together, okay?”