Her voice rises in pitch and volume when she repeats, “I didn’t hurt her!”
“You had your chance, and you chose to turn your back on it.”
“Please, Lucas. Please, don’t leave me alone.” Her voice catches an instant before a single tear cuts a line down her cheek. “I won’t ever try something like that again. I won’t go near Aspen. I swear!”
“Do you know what the worst part is?” I ask, keeping my distance no matter how much I want to go to her. “I don’t know whether anything you say is true or not. This could all be an act.”
“It’s not!”
“Just like it wasn’t an act when you went out of your way to befriend Aspen?” Her shoulders slump when the truth of that hits home. “I can’t believe you, and I won’t anymore. You’ve burned your last bridge.”
She covers her face with her hands, shaking her head. “Please…”
“I won’t be coming back down here again.” I can’t stand to look at her anymore. I have to get out of this cell, away from her, and put this shit show behind me.
Yet even as I step outside and listen to the lock click as it engages, I know it won’t be that easy. Not with the sound of her brokenhearted weeping still ringing in my ears.