ELLIE
The last few moments had been an absolute whirlwind. Tears blurred my vision, my pulse pounding so hard and fast it felt like I couldn’t think straight—like my body was moving faster than my mind could catch up.
I’d known something was coming. Logan confronting Miles was inevitable, but I had hoped, begged the universe, it would happen somewhere private. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere that wouldn’t make my stomach churn with that familiar, sickening twist.
But it hadn’t. It had happened right out in the open for the whole damn town to see.
The public nature of it ripped open wounds I thought I’d buried. It brought me right back to the day I found out about Buck, the day I learned the truth about what we really were. When the whispers started. The stares. The shame.
And now, here I was again. Center stage. Small-town drama playing out with me as the unwilling lead.
He found me so easily and it felt so violating, so reminiscent of how little he cared about my boundaries.
All I’d ever wanted was to blend in, to be a part of Faircloud without the weight of my past tethered to me like a scarlet letter. Just a girl with a job and a heart still learning how to beat steady again.
But this… this was too familiar. The burn in my chest. The cold sweat. The rising tide of panic. It crashed over me in waves.
Panic.
Dread.
Worry.
I sat trembling in Mac’s office chair, trying to force myself to breathe. Deep in, deep out. Again and again. My fingers gripped the armrests like they were the only thing anchoring me to the ground.
Aspen. Theo. Penny. They surrounded me—close and quiet—but didn’t crowd. They knew I needed space, needed silence more than sympathy in this moment.
“That’s it,” Theo whispered gently. “In for five, out for five.”
I followed her lead, my eyes slipping shut as I tried to sync my breathing with her voice. But inside, it was chaos. A movie reel of the past few years flipped through in flashes—pain, betrayal, heartbreak… and then hope.
I’d finally started to feel it again. After Miles. After everything. When I came back from the trip, there had been a strange, tentative calm inside me. Like maybe, just maybe, the worst was behind me. Like I could finally exhale. Start over. Begin to heal.
And now this.
I was angry—at myself, a little. At Logan, more than I wanted to admit.
Not for defending me. Never for that. Knowing he’d put Miles in his place made something in me ache in the sweetest, most protective way. But I wished, God, Iwishedhe’d done itsomewhere else. Somewhere safe. Somewhere that didn’t throw me back into the fire I’d worked so hard to climb out of.
I still hadn’t said a word. Only internally was I processing, talking myself down from the edge. The girls waited, patient but eager. I could feel their curiosity like static in the room. It was quiet but charged.
They didn’t press. Didn’t pry. But I knew they wanted to understand.
And maybe… maybe I needed to be the one to tell them.
The choice to share on my own terms had already been taken from me out there. But in here? With them?
Maybe letting it out, saying the words instead of swallowing them, might finally help me breathe again.
“I need to be honest with all of you…”
“Oh, thank God,” Penny said with a heavy sigh of relief. “I’ve been dying to ask, but I didn’t think now was the right time.”
Aspen smacked her lightly on the arm, eyes wide as she shot her a look.
The interaction made me laugh—an ache-filled, shaky laugh—but it helped. As much as I hurt, having them here softened the sharp edges of it all.
“It’s okay,” I said gently. “I need to say something… I need to get this out.”
