“You said you wanted me to beg,” I said, steady despite the way my heart threatened to tear itself out of my chest.
His lips parted.
“So here I am. And I’m ready to do just about anything to earn your forgiveness. Even if you say no. Even if you have every reason to.”
He didn’t move. Didn’t breathe.
“I’m sorry I left,” I said. “I’m sorry I stopped trying. I’m sorry I filled my head with excuses and plans to keep us apart.”
His throat worked.
“I’m sorry I didn’t break up with him the moment I saw you. I’m sorry I let you believe—even for a second—that you were optional. That you were something I could walk away from.”
Ethan’s fingers curled at his side, knuckles whitening. He didn’t look away.
“And I’m sorry it took me this long to say it out loud,” I went on, my voice rough now. “Because I’ve known it for years.”
He shook his head faintly. “You’re upset?—”
“No,” I interrupted, stopping the thought before it could finish forming. “I’m not. I know exactly what I’m saying.”
“This—this whole thing just fucked with your head,” he tried. “You don’t mean?—”
“Ethan.”
He stopped, whatever he’d been about to say falling away.
I drew in a breath and pulled everything to the surface—every truth I’d buried, every feeling I’d locked away—because he had always been able to read me. Because there had never been a version of this where I could lie to him and get away with it.
My lips curved, just barely. “Can we just pretend…”
His breath hitched. His eyes gleamed.
“Just for a second,” I continued, “that I didn’t fuck this up beyond repair. That you still trust me. That you know no one has ever had me—has ever held my heart in their hands—the way you do. Please?”
The word sat between us. Raw. Exposed.
I stayed where I was, on my knees, letting him see all of it. All of me.
The indecision was written all over his face—the want, the fear, the years of damage I’d caused.
And still?—
He nodded. A small, careful thing.
I swallowed hard, pulse roaring in my ears.
And jumped off the ledge.
“I love you, Ethan.”
His eyes went impossibly wide.
My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt, but the words didn’t scare me the way I’d expected. They felt inevitable.Necessary.
“I love you,” I said again.
Because I finally could.
