Thirty-Five
Jude
One hundred twenty-nine unread text messages, two hundred five calls that rang continuously with no answer. I was unraveling. I hadn’t gotten any sleep. It felt like a wrecking ball had gone straight through my chest.
The desperation in her blue eyes as she had pleaded with me silently, my having to ignore it, shut her out, then seeing her heart breaking right there in front of me, had shattered me in ways I hadn’t known I could break. I reached up and ran a hand over my face. She had walked away, the light gone from her eyes, devastation replacing it, and I’d had to excuse myself to go vomit in the bathroom. Heaving from the unbearable pain of what I’d had to do. Everything in me screamed to go after her, but I couldn’t.
I had been faced with a choice. Someone had to be hurt. My decision would cause devastation either way. If I chose her, then I betrayed Delana, her parents, the parish, and God. If I let her go…only two hearts were broken.