Unbreakable(51)

She blinks up at me, stunned. “But—”

“No. You’re the one who wanted to play this game. I told you not to confuse the friendship side of our relationship with the sexual side. They’re two entirely separate things. You knew the goddamn score.”

Emmy glances out over the lake. “I know what I wanted, Will,” she says quietly. “You don’t need to remind me, okay?”

“And I know what I wanted. I wanted to f*ck you, and I did. You wanted the same thing. We were never going to have a relationship, do you understand? We were going to screw each other’s brains out and then move the hell on. We were never, ever going to be more than f*ck buddies, Emmy. So your decision to choose my side over your brother’s? It’s really not worth it.”

Her face crumples and more tears roll down her cheeks. I shove my hands into my pockets to keep myself from reaching for her.

I f*cking hate this, but being cruel is the only way to make what I’m about to do a little easier. She needs to hate me. I’m counting on it. Emmy needs her brother. Her relationship with her parents is fragile at best, and I won’t have them turn against each other over me.

And if I’m being completely honest, the need for that hate is two-fold. I’m in love with Emmy, but she was off limits to me forever. And I certainly can’t have her now that all this has blown up in our faces. I need to cut ties so I can try to get over her and move on. I had a taste of happiness with her, and I realize now how much I’ve been missing.

I want someone I can come home to after games. Someone to be silly with and cook with in my kitchen. Someone I can go out with and share good times with. Someone to take to my bed and make love with at night. I want to be happy again. Since my parents died, I’ve just been existing and not really living, and I can’t do it anymore. I need to feel alive again. Being with Emmy the past few days made me realize all of this.

And since I can’t have those things with her, then maybe I can have it with someone else someday. It might take a long time to get over her, but I have to try.

It hits me that I’m cutting off the last person left in the world who actually cares about me. After this, I’ll have no one left. I’m going to miss her so much; I’m honestly not even sure how I’ll cope.

“Why are you being like this?” she asks, her voice barely a whisper. “I get it, Will, we had sex, but I’m still your friend. You don’t have to be so cruel.”

“Sometimes the truth is cruel,” I shrug. “And about us being friends… I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore.”

She rears back like she’s been slapped. “What?”

“Our being friends is not a good idea. Not after all the shit that just went down.”

Emmy hangs her head for a moment and takes a few shallow breaths before looking back up at me. All traces of hurt on her face are gone. In its place, anger blazes deep and hot within those jade eyes.

“You f*cking hypocrite,” she seethes. She steps forward and jabs her finger into my chest, and I let her angry words sink into my soul.

“You! You’re the one who made me promise that no matter what happens, we wouldn’t be without each other. That you couldn’t handle me not being in your life. What happened to that little speech, Will?”

“Things change,” I snap. “I never expected Sully to find out about us!”

She lets out a harsh laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, they do change. Just like I never expected—” She snaps her mouth closed and gives her head a shake. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Not anymore.”

Seeing her come apart like this is simply too much to handle. I climb into the truck and start it up. She stands there with her arms wrapped around herself once again.

“I’m sorry,” I manage, struggling with the words. “For what it’s worth, Emmy, I’m really sorry.”

And I am. I’m so f*cking sorry. I’m sorry for hurting her, and I’m sorry for leaving her like this. She deserves so much better.

Emmy lifts her head, and the sorrow I see on her face is like another punch to the gut. It knocks the wind right out of me.

“You know what, Will? For what it’s worth, I’m not. I’m not sorry, and I never will be.”

She turns and slowly walks back toward the cottage, looking small and fragile and alone. I’m close to diving out of the cab, dragging her into my arms and telling her how I feel about her. But it’s too far gone for that now, and it wouldn’t solve a damn thing.

I have to get out of here before I completely f*cking lose it. I throw the truck into drive and peel out of the parking space without looking back.

The only thing I can do is move forward without them. I have no other choice.





Chapter Twenty-One





EMMY




With a heavy heart, I turn and watch the taillights of Will’s truck disappear down the road into the darkness. Despite all of his protests, he’s taken a part of me with him whether he wanted to or not. Half of me is missing; my heart is shattered beyond repair.

I’m still not sure what just happened. His words were so cruel and cold. That wasn’t the Will I know. He’s never been anything but sweet to me. We’ve been friends since we were little and closer than ever these past three years. Hearing that he doesn’t want to be my friend anymore has left me devastated. I could have handled everything else, but not that.