Chapter 41 Sophie
FORTY-ONE
SOPHIE
Cole’s voice reaches my ears, and when I finally manage to break the words down into their smallest pieces and then put them back together, the ground threatens to give way beneath me.
Everything I said was a lie.
It cannot be true. It must not be true. But I know it is. I see it in his eyes. He doesn’t want me. It was all a lie. His words. His actions. Even his touches. It was all fake.
I was so stupid believing he would feel the same as me.
I gave him the most precious thing I had, made him do things I will never forget, and all because I thought he felt something for me.
I gave him my heart, but instead of protecting it, he threw it on the ground where it shattered into a thousand pieces.
I sink into a haze of disbelief and all-consuming emptiness until Cole’s voice finds me again. Blinking, I try to orient myself, and my gaze falls on a police station at the end of the street.
"I’ll let you out here. Then you can decide where you want to go," he says flatly.
His voice sounds unfamiliar. The mischievousness is gone. The affection is gone. The emotions are gone. Everything gone, gone, gone.
With numb fingers, I feel for the door handle and get out of the vehicle. Before I close the door and turn away, I look at him one last time.
I look at the broad shoulders I leaned against. The strong arms with the tattooed hands that touched me.
The straight nose in the handsome face. The lips that kissed me so gently and whispered my name.
The raven-black hair and storm-gray eyes that shine like liquid silver when the light refracts through them.
"Take care of yourself, darling."
Darling. Never has anyone made a word sound like that. Never again will a voice give me goosebumps the way his can. Never again will I feel what I felt with him.
I close the door.
Cole starts the engine.
The pickup drives off.
And disappears.
For good.