Willow is seeing someone. I’m too late. I can’t believe the second I’m prepared to let someone in, I lose them.
I close my eyes and try to breathe the pain away, but it doesn’t help. I was right to fear opening my heart to someone. It fucking hurts so badly I want to claw the damn thing from my chest.
When my phone beeps, I open the message thinking that it’s Jaxson.
When I see Willow’s name, it only amplifies the ache in my chest.
Willow: I’m sorry for the way I behaved last night. I want you to be happy, Marcus, but I deserve to be happy, too. Right now we’re both miserable, so I’m going to let you go. You will always have a special place in my heart, Pretty-Boy.
I stare at the words until they all blur together.
This is why I don’t do relationships. Losing people hurts too much. Fuck, it’s tearing me apart inside.
I send Jaxson a text before I switch off my phone.
Me: Willow ended things.
888
WILLOW
I wipe away the tear, but when Dad pulls me into his arms, it just makes them fall faster.
“It’s going to be okay. Let’s go pack your bag.”
While I’m throwing clothes in an overnight bag, I ask, “Why is it always like this, Dad? Why do we want things we can never have?”
Dad takes the bag from the bed and places his arm around me.
“It’s not the right time. Just because you can’t have it now, it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen at a later stage.”
I called Dad last night. I was a mess and not even talking to Evie would’ve helped. I was so surprised when he called and told me he was outside my apartment. I told him about Marcus and everything that’s happened.
I cried because it hurt so much loving Marcus and having to see him with other women.
“You deserve to be happy, Willow,” Dad said. “You can’t hold onto something that’s not meant to be yours. While you’re pining for this guy, you might miss out on meeting the right man. Trust me, once you meet the one you’re supposed to love, it will make all of this pain just fade away.”
“But how will I know who the right person is?”
“You’ll know because he will be the one you compare everyone else too. He will add beauty to your life, not take it away.”
“I love Marcus, Daddy. I don’t know what to do. Seeing him with another, it felt like my heart was being crushed.”
“All I can tell you is what I would do. I would let the person go. If you’re really meant to be, you will find your way back to each other. But if you continue down this path, you’re only going to end up hating each other. In the end, you hav
e to do what’s right for you.”
It hurt so much thinking of a future that wouldn’t have Marcus in it. But I knew I had to do it. It would kill me if I had to watch him fall in love with another woman and build a future with her.
So I did the most unbearable thing I have ever done.
I set Marcus free.
Chapter 11
MARCUS
~The beginning of the end.~