Silence follows.
Nothing but the low hum of the Mustang’s engine and the pounding of my heart, loud and stupid in my ears.
I feel Harper stiffen beside me, even with my eyes glued to the road. I can’t help but glance over at her. She’s turned to face me, arms folded across her chest like armor, and when she speaks, her voice is deadly cold.
“Are you seriously gonna be like this right now?”
The smart move would be to apologize. De-escalate. Pretend it was a slip of the tongue.
But since I’m halfway to hell already, like the idiot I am, I double down instead.
“Have you?”
“Stop the car.”
I blink. “What?”
“Stop the car.”
There’s steel in her voice—pure command. I brake without thinking, the tires hissing on the pavement as we glide to a stop in the middle of the empty street.
She throws open the door and plants one foot on the asphalt.
“Harper, wait—I’m sorry?—”
My hands are shaking on the wheel. I grip tighter.
Count to four. Get yourself together. One. Two. Three. Four.
Can’t. Can’t breathe right.
Check the mirrors?—
What the fuck are you doing?She’s getting out. She’s leaving.
Check the distance between us: increasing. Three feet. Four feet. Six feet.
No. No no no.
“Harper, wait—I’m sorry?—”
Too late.
She whips around and comes back to the open passenger door, glaring at me, and I swear I feel the heat of it across my skin.
“You think just because Ifuckedyou, you get to havean opinion on my body? Or who I gave it to before you ever existed in my life?”
Each word lands like a punch.
Because she’s right. Of course she’s right. Fuck. What’s wrong with me?
“Fuck you, Caleb Graham,” she spits, and hearing my full name in her mouth like that—like a curse—hurts. “No, Z and I never fucked but not for lack of me trying when I first met him. I bet you’re still the kind of bitch-boy who’s gonna fixate on that forever. So congrats—you and me areover. Not that there was ever really an ‘us’ to begin with.”
The door slams.
She’s stomping away, furious, like she’s trying to get as far away from me as she possibly can asfastas she possible can.
I sit there frozen, hands glued to the wheel. Every organ in my chest feels like it’s been replaced with wet cement.