“I’m tired.” I yawn, ignoring them. “You’ve said what you came to say, now leave.”
I just want to be alone, away from my family and some other place where the nightmares don’t follow me.
“You can run,” Millie says in a low voice, “but one day, you’re going to realize the people you pushed away are the ones you need the most.”
And just like that, my sisters leave my room.
Millie is wrong. I don’t need anyone. Soon, I’ll be far away and starting a new life on my own. I’ll make it work for as long as I can, even if it means I have to work hard to earn my own money to survive.
I don’t need a man, nor do I need my father's help.
And the best part of my plan … no one will know I’m Lex Edwards’ daughter.
I’ll make damn sure of it.
THREE
“So, what? You’re just going to take off like we’re nothing?”
Cole’s raised voice echoes around us as we sit on the sand, watching the waves. Something is calming about the ocean. One minute, a wave crashes against the shoreline, making its presence known, and the next, there’s an eerie silence.
Rinse, cycle, repeat.
Just like this conversation.
I’m trying to understand why this conversation is a surprise to Cole. We haven’t been the same since the party almost two months ago. He’s busied himself with friends and God knows what. The boys were known to fuck whoever they could get their hands on. Cole had a history before he and I hooked up. He dated and slept with several girls.
Though he was myfirst.
It wasn’t uncommon for rumors to travel of him cheating on me. For the most part, I blocked out all the noise, but deep down, it hurt. Just because I don’t see a future with us doesn’t mean his being with other girls is any easier to swallow.
I’ve been trying to study for finals despite not wanting to attend college. I mean, maybe one day I might change my mind, but as of right now, it’s not for me.
“I’m not taking off like we’re nothing,” I tell him, unable to hide the disappointment in my voice. No matter what I do, Cole will never escape me. How can he when he got me pregnant at the age of seventeen? His memory will always besomething. “We’re so young.”
“And your dad is okay with this?” he questions in disbelief.
Things with Dad could have been a lot worse. I suspected Mom has a lot to do with the fact that he’s still even talking to me. Occasionally, we cross paths, and he brings up places to visit in Europe. I appear interested though his acceptance of my traveling is making me question my whole decision. By then, I usually mumble something and walk away disinterested because I don’t like questioning my life choices.
“He’s fine,” I half-lie. “Well, he’s fine now.”
Suddenly, Cole stands up and distances himself. As he crosses his arms, his stare is fixated on the ocean. Then, he turns around with a clenched jaw, nostrils flaring like a bull ready to attack.
“Is there someone else?”
I shake my head while pursing my lips. “Why does it always have to be about someone else?”
“Because I haven’t fucked you in forever!”
A sinking feeling forms in the pit of my stomach. Maybe that’s all I’m good for, a quick fuck in the bedroom or my name attached to the Edwards’ wealth.
Just when will someone see me for me?
“Silence speaks many words you can’t seem to answer,” he accuses with malice.
His wide eyes fixate on me. They’re cold and uninviting, lacking the warmth and comfort I would have expected from someone who told me they loved me. I remember it like it was yesterday, the weighted words said right before I gave myself up.
Cole promised me the world, and I believed him.