wasn’t as simple as someone from the outside made it seem. Even with the drama and fights, it still wasn’t easy to walk away from something you’d spent the last five years building.
“I know he’s been there for you. But just because you have a past with someone doesn’t mean that you owe them your future. If you want to be with Jared, tell me, and I’ll back off. I’ll never bring it up again. But if you’re anywhere near as unhappy as I think you are, then do the right thing and end things with him. Just know that the second you do, I’m making you mine.”
This was all too much. Everything that had lived in the dark between Chance and me was being tossed into the light, begging to be seen. I needed to get us back on track, focused. End the conversation that truly was none of his business and get him out of my relationship, where he didn’t belong.
“We should really study.”
He grinned, and his lone dimple appeared. “Okay, Danika, let’s study.”
He was giving in for me, and I took it without a fight.
Two Weeks Later
I’d be lying to myself if I said that knowing Chance wanted me didn’t change things. It absolutely did. I started thinking more about what my life could look like without Jared. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. My body, my mind, every part of me wanted to know what being with Chance would feel like.
Which was why, after our mutual admission and the fact that Chance had passed his next math test with ease, I’d taken his tutoring down to once a week. It was the right thing to do even though everything in me rebelled against the separation. I knew that Chance had hoped for a different decision from me as well, but I couldn’t grant him that kind of power over me or my relationship.
He’d tried to text me a few times, but I’d put a stop to that, too, by either not responding at all or giving one-worded answers. He took the hint, choosing silence in return, which I both hated and desperately needed. It was the only way for me to figure things out on my end without Chance Carter clouding my judgment.
Whatever I decided to do about Jared, it couldn’t be about Chance. But to be honest, it was really hard to separate the two of them in my head. Breaking up with Jared meant that I’d finally have a shot to be with Chance. And I knew that I wanted that, but I hated that I felt like a bad person because of it. I was not the type of girl to end one relationship for another. Or at least, I never had been before.
I hated that I felt like I was doing something wrong when everything about being with Chance felt so opposite of that. I wished my mom were here. It was one of those times when I longed to pick up the phone and call her for advice. I tried to think about what she’d tell me to do even though I knew she would insist that I follow my heart even if it broke someone else’s.
Some of her last words echoed in my mind.
“Be happy. Be ridiculously happy, Nika. Don’t let anyone else be responsible for your joy. That’s up to you. So, chase it. Without abandon. Without guilt. Without fear. And never settle. Not in life. And especially not in love.”
The front door slammed.
“Honey, I’m home,” Sunny’s voice rang out, and I giggled.
It was really damn hard to be sad around that girl. And even though she’d recently pushed me for information about Chance, I’d kept quiet. I kept our confessions to myself, locking them inside me, where I considered them safer. Sharing them with her would make them real.
“In the kitchen, where I belong,” I teased, and Sunny squealed in response.
“Baking, I hope!” she said as she bounced into view with a grin.
I held out a giant spoonful of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough, and she greedily grabbed it.
“Please tell me you sprinkled sea salt on top of the chocolate chips!” She leaned down toward the oven and tried to peer inside. “I can’t see in there,” she whined.
“Why the hell would I put sea salt on them?” I asked.
“You know nothing about culinary baking,” she complained before grabbing the spoon filled with dough and licking it. “So, what’s wrong? You only bake