"This isn't fair."
"No. It's not." She wipes her eyes. "Nothing about this situation is fair."
We sit in horrible silence.
"I love you," I say finally. "I should have said it before now, but I love you. And this…taking a break, letting him win even temporarily, it's killing me."
"I love you too. That's why I'm doing this." She stands. "Now go. Before I change my mind and we make this even harder."
I want to stay. Want to hold her and tell her we'll figure it out together. Want to do anything but walk away.
But Maya's face is in my head. Her voice saying she won't be the reason I give up someone I love.
And the truth is, if being with Lennox means Maya loses her therapy, loses her stability, potentially spirals again.
I can't live with that.
So I leave. Walk out of her dorm. Drive back to my apartment in a daze.
And hate my father with an intensity that scares me.
Chapter 11
Lennox
I cryfor three days straight.
Isla and Ivy stage an intervention on day four.
"Okay, enough," Ivy says, physically removing my laptop. "You're not writing another word until you shower and eat actual food."
"I'm fine?—"
"You're not fine. You're devastated and that's okay. But you need to function." Isla hands me a granola bar. "Eat this. Then shower. Then we're talking."
They bully me into self-care, and by the time I'm showered and dressed, I do feel slightly more human.
"Talk," Ivy commands once we're settled in her room with wine. "What happened?"
I explain everything. Carter's father. The ultimatum. Our decision to take a break.
"That's bullshit," Ivy says immediately.
"It's practical?—"
"It's bullshit. His father is manipulating him and you're enabling it."
"I'm protecting Maya?—"
"Maya is not your responsibility. She's an adult who can make her own choices and from what you've told me, she explicitly said not to let their father use her as leverage." Ivy leans forward. "You broke up with Carter, yes, broke up, that's what a 'break' is because you couldn't handle the pressure. Not because it was the right thing to do."
Her words hit like a slap.
"That's not?—"
"Isn't it? You've been scared of this relationship from the start. Scared it was too good to be real. Scared you'd get hurt and the moment things got hard, you found an excuse to run." Ivy's voice softens. "I get it. I've done it too. But don't pretend this was about protecting Maya. This was about protecting yourself."
I want to argue, want to defend my choice, but she might be right.
