“Whoa,” Lana and I both said. Lana jumped to her feet in defense, but I moved in front of her.
“She’s here to help me pack,” I said, deciding that if he was going to be a dick, so could I.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I’m leaving you,” I said, and he took two steps back.
“Leaving—what—why?”
“Let’s go to the living room and talk,” I said, trying to get him away from Lana.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want you to stand here and think everything coming out of my mouth results from anyideasyou think Lana might have put in my head. And I also don’t want her to punch you in the face, so go.”
Tyler glared in Lana’s direction but turned on his heel and stomped toward the living room. I grunted under my breath before following.
“If he says anything—“
“If he says anything about you again, I’ll hit him my damn self,” I said, seeing the wild expression on Lana’s face. “We’re almost done, aren’t we?”
“I will be by the time you tell him to go fuck himself,” she swore.
I grabbed one of the laundry baskets and headed down the hall.
He was pacing behind the couch when I reached him, his hand rubbing behind his neck.
“The fuck is she doing here so early?” he asked. “And what do you mean you’re leaving? You can’t leave. We’re getting married—“
“No, we’re not,” I interrupted him. “It’s over. I can’t marry you.”
Tyler stopped walking. “You’re breaking up with me? Where is this coming from? I thought you were just nervous.”
I almost laughed. “How did you not know this was coming?” I asked, exhausted with emotion. “After everything the last two months. Are you so oblivious that you had no idea I was unhappy?”
“Everyone kept telling me it was normal wedding jitters!” he argued. “How—why— After everything I’ve done for you? You’re leaving me?”
“Everything you’ve done?” I balked. “Tyler, tell me what you’ve done for me? Other than buying me things I don’t care for and trying to tell me the kind of future I want. I just told you two days ago that I wasn’t ready to give up my life—“
“What the fuck is so special about your life now that you feel the need to hang onto it?” he shouted. “Your trashy friends? Your joke of a job? Chloe, you’re better than these things you cling to. You could besomuch more if you would just realize you don’t need them.“
My fist curled in on itself, rage rearing its head from deep within me.
“Mytrashyfriends have been there for me through things you would have told me I was being stupid over,” I snapped. “Mytrashyfriends love me for me. And my joke of a job is my fucking dream—something you wouldn’t know anything about. God, Tyler. How… How the hell did I ever fall in love with you? Were you just waiting until we were married to cut me off from everyone?”
“This is ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head at the ceiling. “You can’t be this dumb, Chloe. You’re giving up everything I could provide for you.”
“I don’t need anyone to provide for me,” I sneered. “This is half of the fucking problem. You think I need you.”
“What’s the other half of the problem?”
“It would take me hours to name off the rest of the fucking issues we have,” I said. The weight of everything dragged me down, and I didn’t have the energy for this quarrel.
I just wanted it to be over.
“We’re done.” Emotion burned behind my nose. “Nothing either of us says will change that, so why bother with this fucking argument. Do you even truly care? Did you ever love me?”
“Of course I love you." He stepped in my direction, but I quickly escaped his grasp.
