Always Us by Lizzie Morton
Epilogue
Jake
She walked away. She did the one thing I told myself all summer couldn’t happen.
And now I have nothing left to play, it’s up to her to make the final move and decide how the game ends. What I thought was my winning card – the truth – wasn’t enough. She did what I feared and told me it doesn’t matter anymore. Deep down, I know why.
She doesn’t trust me.
“Penny for your thoughts …”
I look up, from the ground where I’ve been sitting – brooding, and find the last person I expect.
Dan Fucking White.
“What do you want?” I snap.
“A word,” he replies, albeit with a more civil tone.
“I gathered …” I pick at the grass, shredding the blades into tiny pieces, keeping my hands occupied with anything that doesn’t involve punching him in the face.
This is his fault. If he weren’t on the scene things might be different. She might’ve been here with me now.
“Something’s wrong with Abby.”
He has my full attention now. “What do you mean?” I say as I get to my feet and stand a little too close for his comfort.
Moving back a pace he shrugs. “I don’t know … she seems off. Last night when we were together, something wasn’t right.”
I try not to focus too much on the fact they were together last night when I was worried out of my goddamn mind wondering where she was. She wasn’t alone. I breathe slowly trying to keep my temper in check. He’s right though. There was something different about her before. She wasn’t her usual pissed off self. She seemed lost. Broken.
“I’ll keep an eye on her.” I always do, he doesn’t need to waltz in trying to be her knight in shining armor. She already has one.
“I’m not the bad guy.” He gestures between the two of us. “It doesn’t have to be like this. And for the record, I didn’t know there was something still going on between the two of you. She said you were history.”
I smirk. She didn’t tell him. I could. I could tell him every detail, but I won’t, because she means more to me than that, and if I did, I’d never stand a chance.
Without realizing, Dan’s revealed that the game isn’t quite finished. Maybe I didn’t play my last card after all, because if she didn’t tell him about us this summer then it means one thing.
She doesn’t fully trust him with her heart either.
It’s ironic. Last time, John West was the one to seal our fate when he told me to walk away. And now, as his words echo in my mind, this time he’s telling me to do the opposite.
To keep on fighting till there’s nothing left.
And that’s exactly what I intend to do.
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