The Years We Lost

Prologue

I should never have listened to Lynda in the first place.

Not when every instinct in my body told me no.

Not when the unease crept in the moment she mentioned a party.

Lynda had been unusually persistent, calling and texting until I finally gave in.

That alone should have been my warning. She had always hated crowds.

The Lynda I had known since childhood preferred quiet corners and familiar faces, just like me.

We kept our world small and safe, and we trusted each other to protect that.

So when she suddenly wanted loud music, strangers, and a house full of people I barely knew, something felt off. I told myself I was overthinking it. I told myself she wouldn’t put me in a situation she knew I wasn’t comfortable with.

I was wrong.

Things had already changed enough since I started dating Ashton Miller.

Ashton was the town’s golden boy, admired not only in high school but throughout the entire town.

His family name carried weight. His father was the mayor, a man people respected without question.

Being with someone like Ashton was never part of my plan.

I never imagined someone like him choosing me.

We met by accident, by the lake I had loved since I was a child. He sat beside me like it was the most natural thing in the world, like he belonged there. We talked until the sun dipped low, both of us startled by how easy it felt.

He was a senior. I was a sophomore. Our time already had an ending stamped on it.

We met in secret after that. After football practice, he would come straight to the lake. Away from the noise, Ashton was gentle and funny, nothing like the confident boy everyone else saw. With me, he was real.

Then he left for college.

Two years of distance stretched between us. I missed him in ways that hollowed me out.

When my parents’ marriage finally collapsed, I broke down during a video call and told him everything—about the divorce, about how empty the house felt after my little brother’s death had torn us apart. Two days later, Ashton was at my door.

We spent two nights alone at his family’s cabin. The world felt paused. We made love like tomorrow didn’t exist. He promised me one day we would be together for real.

I held onto that promise.

That had been a month ago.

“Hey, Bailey! Hurry up!” Lynda shouted.

The house was massive. Music thundered through the walls.

When she told me it was the Chase family’s house, my stomach dropped.

“You know what he did,” I told her. “You know.”

She apologized. Promised she would stay with me. Thirty minutes, I agreed.

Inside, the noise swallowed me. I refused alcohol. I already felt unwell.

When I turned around, Lynda was gone.

Panic rose fast and sharp.

I pushed through the crowd, heading upstairs.

That was when I ran into Chase.

He was drunk, smiling too wide.

“I asked her to bring you,” he said casually.

Before I could react, he grabbed my hand.

“Chase, stop.”

He tightened his grip and dragged me down the hallway. People laughed, mistaking it for flirting.

He shoved me into a room.

The door slammed shut behind us.

The room was empty.

“No Lynda?” he mocked, locking the door. “You wouldn’t have come if you didn’t want this.”

My heart slammed violently against my ribs.

“Where is she?”

“I’ve been patient with you,” he said, undoing his pants. “Hot and cold. Always teasing. No one’s here now.”

Fear flooded my body, freezing my limbs.

“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted. “I’m leaving.”

I tried to move past him.

He grabbed my shoulder and threw me onto the bed.

The impact knocked the air from my lungs.

“You want to play innocent?” he sneered, climbing over me. “Girls like you always do.”

His weight pinned me down. I couldn’t move. His pants were halfway off.

“Get off me!” I screamed, struggling uselessly beneath him.

He laughed.

When he leaned down to kiss me, something inside me snapped.

I drove my knee upward with everything I had.

He cried out, collapsing forward. I shoved him away, scrambling off the bed as he doubled over, clutching himself.

“You bitch,” he hissed.

Rage burned through the fear.

I kicked him hard in the back. He cried out again, curling onto the floor.

“Say that again,” I said, my voice shaking but steady. “Next time, I won’t stop there.”

I walked out, my body trembling but my head held high.

People stared. Smirked. Judged.

Chase stumbled out behind me, pants still undone.

I ran.

Outside, my body finally gave out. I vomited into the bushes, shaking violently.

Lynda rushed toward me, panic in her eyes.

“What happened?”

“I need to go,” I whispered.

“Did you drink too much?”

I shook my head, tears spilling.

“No. I think… I think I might be pregnant.”

And just like that, everything broke.