She shrugs, annoyed. “I’m fine. They were out of line, but they’ll get over it.”
I want to believe her. I really do. But everything her brothers threw at me—the accusations, anger, and the way they looked at me like I was poison in her water—it lands in my head with perfect clarity.
She thinks they’ll get over it, but I know they won’t.
She steps closer. “Cole, talk to me.”
I take a slow breath. “Ella…”
Her eyes narrow when she realizes what I’m about to do. “Don’t you dare.”
But I do. I have to. Because I can’t breathe under the weight of this truth.
“I don’t want to come between you and your family,” I say quietly.
She freezes, arms dropping. “What?”
“I don’t want to be the reason you fight with them.”
“You aren’t,” she snaps.
“I am.”
“Cole—“
“They hate me.”
“They don’t hate you!” she fires back, loud enough that it echoes. “They’re just—“
“Being protective,” I finish for her. “I know.”
But that’s not the part that hurts. The part that hurts is that they might be right.
She steps closer, eyes burning. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I let out a low exhale, rubbing the back of my neck because I can’t stand how raw I feel. “I knew when I started falling for you that your family might not take it well. I knew there would be fallout.”
It’s why I pushed her away in the first place. But I was not strong enough to keep it that way.
“So?”
“So I still did it.” I look her in the eyes, and I feel myself break a little. “I chose you, knowing it would wreck things for you.”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“I think it is,” I say quietly.
She stares at me like she doesn’t recognize me. “What are you saying?”
I swallow hard. “Maybe… maybe we should take a step back.”
Silence falls so sharp it could cut skin. Her mouth parts, once, twice, and nothing comes out. Then her eyes harden, silver-bright with betrayal.
“A step back?”
I nod. “Just for now. Until things settle.”
She lets out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. “And you are deciding that without even talking to me?”
