CHAPTER NINETEEN
SIXTEEN YEARS OLD
• • •
It’s been a few days.
And Cassian hasn’t come back.
Not really surprising.
He always leaves first.
Even when I’m the one who walks away.
• • •
I texted Taylor some excuse that night.
Told him I had to go.
I felt bad about it.
But the next day he smiled at me like nothing happened.
Like I hadn’t left him in the middle of something that should’ve meant more.
Like I didn’t just use him to forget someone else.
He deserved better than that.
I know that.
I just didn’t have anything better to give.
Cassian probably went back to Abby.
Of course he did.
She’s easier.
She doesn’t make him feel like this.
• • •
But he kissed me.
And I can still feel it.
The way he shook against me.
The way he said God like it escaped him.
The way his hands held my face like I was something he’d been starving for.
He kissed me like he meant it.
Like he’d been meaning it for years.
