My legs wouldn’t move. My chest felt like it was splitting open, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t even call out her name.
She was crying because of me.
Alex carried her down the bleachers, Jennie running after them, and I just… watched.
Watched as her head rested against his shoulder, tears still spilling down her cheeks, her small frame shaking from the pain I caused.
The field felt too quiet now. Too still.
Every player was staring, whispering, but I didn’t hear a word.
All I could see was her face, wet, broken and the way her lips trembled when she looked at me for the last time before Alex turned away with her in his arms.
And I couldn’t even fucking move.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Aurora / Joshua
Aurora
Alex drove fast. Faster than he should’ve.
The world outside was just a blur of winter grey and headlights bleeding across the windshield.
Jennie was in the backseat, her voice trembling as she tried to keep me still. “Don’t move, Rory, please—just… keep still, okay? It’s probably swollen.”
But I couldn’t stop crying.
It hurt. My arm hurt.
And not just the pain under my skin, the burning, throbbing ache that pulsed with every heartbeat, but the part that hurt worse was the reason behind it.
Joshua.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t flinch.
Didn’t help.
He just stood there, frozen as if I wasn’t even real. Like I was nothing.
The same boy who told me to sit when it was cold.
Who gave me his jacket.
Who ordered food for me.
Who made me laugh quietly when he joked about scaring me.
The boy I thought—maybe, maybe—wasn’t cruel anymore.
He did that.
My chest hurt more than my arm. My throat felt raw, choking on hiccups between sobs I couldn’t swallow down.
Jennie’s hand brushed away the tears that wouldn’t stop falling, her touch soft and shaky. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, Rory. You’re okay. You’re okay.”
