“Just talk when you’re ready.”
I wait patiently for a minute, rubbing her back, before she starts again. “I knew I wanted to break your heart as much as you broke mine. I know now what you really went through back then but to me, you were intentionally breaking me down in high school. I wanted to make you fall for me. Make you love me and then crush you. Reveal myself and stomp on your heart and watch you bleed out. I couldn’t though because in the process I fell for you too. It came out of nowhere and in that moment, when I knew I wasn’t going to be able to let you go, I realized I’d have to tell you.”
She leans back to look me in the face. Her mascara is smeared down her red cheeks. “You have to believe me, Casen. What I did was wrong but I was going to fix it. Even before I found out Ian was looking for me, I was going to tell you. I wanted to make it right. I still want to make it right.”
I draw her into me again. “We’re doing it now, Embyr. We’re going to fix this.”
“I don’t know how to make up for what I did.” She cries.
Squeezing her tight, I kiss her forehead. “We are going to figure it out, Embyr. Together okay?”
I feel her shake her head yes and wrap her arms around my back. A flash of black on her wrist catches my attention so I grab her hand and turn it to get a better look. “What’s this?”
Sitting up, she moves her arm so I am looking at it at the right angle. “It’s a karma symbol. I got it last week.” She rubs her fingers along the tattoo. “It reminds me every day that karma is a bitch. It was something Aria, Wesley’s high school girlfriend, said to me. ‘Karma’s a bitch.’ It stuck. I wanted a constant reminder that you get back what you give. Not as in the PITCREW deserved karma but as in me needing to live my life right. Start over. Let karma be my bitch instead of the other way around. Good karma will come back just as much as bad. I choose the good now.”
I grab her wrist and kiss the black ink. “I like it.”
She smiles. The first, real, true genuine smile I have seen on her since high school. The one I fell in love with back then. “I do have one more thing I am sorry for, Embyr.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m the most sorry for never telling you how I felt back then. I wish I would have. It might have saved us from a lot of hurt, heartbreak, devastation, and lies.” Her brown eyes sparkle. “And I love that you got rid of the contacts.”
Her cheeks rise. “Me too. I’m starting to feel like the real me. I always thought they were an ugly color.”
I look deep into her irises. “No. They’re beautiful. The color is what drew me to you in the first place. Someone could truly get lost in them.”
She laughs. “I’m so not used to romantic Casen. I almost miss the dirty one.”
“Well, you’ll get him back. I just think now is the time to start over. I’m ready for that. I’m ready to forget and move on.”
She jumps up. “Me too! First, let’s start with me taking you on a date.”
I point to her. “You’re going to takemeon a date?”
“Yes!”
