An endless series of stone steps welcomed us. Cade walked ahead of me, his broad shoulders nearly spanning the length of the narrow stairwell as we ascended. It was a good thing we weren’t claustrophobic. Otherwise, the competition would end right here for us.
“Are you okay?” Cade asked, his voice echoing in the tight enclosure.
A few spiders scurried out of the brick walls. I shuddered. “Yeah, just peachy.”
I could practically hear his smile. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of giving up.”
“Not a chance,querido.”
I cursed at myself for calling him by his nickname. Even in the dark, I could see Cade’s posture straighten with contentment. Bastard. He probably thought I wasthis closeto forgiving him.
Hah.
I could forgive a lot, but cheating was a hard no.
In my humble opinion, once a cheater, always a cheater.
The last three months, I often lay in my room replaying the moment I caught him red-handed. Dazed and confused and in his bed with the other girl. My anger would flare up, my heart would break all over again, and I’d cry myself to sleep, despite swearing to never shed another tear over my ex-boyfriend.
Cade apologized many times through texts and voicemails. Once, he even climbed up to my balcony Romeo style and tried to give me his bullshit excuses.
I shut the doors in his face.
After that, he slinked away to his own kingdom.
Though his yearning was palpable. It followed me like a shadow whenever we were in the same surroundings. Sometimes he tried to talk to me, and I ignored him. Cade was remorseful, but I didn’t care. Taking him back after what he did would have been a slap in the face to my self-respect.
After reflecting on our broken relationship for weeks, I concluded that most of my hurt stemmed from the fact that Cade, of all people, shouldn’t have betrayed me. He was supposed to be the other half of me—my ride or die. He’d always been so crazy in love with me that I didn’t understandhoworwhyhe’d cheat.
Had I not showered him with all the love and affection in my cup?
Had I not given him the world too?
Had I not…been enough?
The night of Josh’s nineteenth birthday party, when I caught Cade cheating, I thought the whole scene was a figment of my fucked-up imagination. It was so out-of-character for him to do something like that.
Cade was loyal to me.
He said there would only ever be me for him.
He called memo chuisle. His pulse. His heartbeat. His fucking lifeline.
So how was it possible that myqueridowould hurt me like that? How was it possible that he’d throw away everything we had and ruin us as if we were nothing?
I would have loved for the whole thing to be a lie. But there was no denying it. The evidence was right there.
My ex-boyfriend had cheated on me.
And there was no undoing that.
“Ella?” Fingers snapped in front of my face. “Hello?”
I jerked, veered out of my musings and back to reality.
The first thing I noticed was Cade’s handsome face, twisted in concern and bathed in the moonlight.
I momentarily lost sense of where we were, but the slight pain in my foot was a stark reminder that we’d ascended a long flight of stairs. “Y-Yeah?”
