Bittersweet (Redemption #3) - Jessica Prince Page 0,58

anything from her, so as much as I hated it, I ended up telling her the full story.

By the time I finished, tears were spilling from her eyes at a steady rate. “So, this is all my fault,” she said in a small, broken voice.

“No,” I insisted. Despite the pain, I sat up straight, reaching out to take her chin in my hand and guide her eyes to mine. “This wasn’t your fault.”

She tried pulling her face away, but I wouldn’t let her. “Of course it is,” she cried. “Look at you! He did this because he thinks I’m not good enough and you refused to break up with me. You should have just—”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I said on a growl. “Me leaving you is never gonna happen, so don’t even suggest it. It had nothing to do with whether or not you’re good enough. Your family could have money coming out of your asses and it still wouldn’t have mattered. He knew you made me happy, and he wanted to take that away. You matter to me. That’s why he wanted me to end it.”

She pulled in a long, slow breath and blinked away the tears. “I hate him,” she whispered a minute later. “I’ve never even met him and I hate him. He’s the reason you get into all those fights, isn’t he?”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the headboard. I hated that she’d seen that side of me, but I couldn’t fucking stand that she now knew why I was the way I was. “It’s fucked up,” I grunted.

I worried that she was going to leave now that she knew the truth, knew just how messed up I was. But she didn’t.

Her voice was closer when she spoke next, and when I opened my eyes, her face was only inches away. “It is. And it’s all his fault.”

“Shane—”

“I get it now,” she continued, speaking over me. “I always knew there was something more behind why you sometimes get so angry you can’t control it, but I didn’t know what. Now I do, and I get it.”

My chest clenched and my stomach dropped. My breathing escalated as a sweat beaded up on my forehead. “Are you—” Jesus, even thinking it made me feel like I was going to be sick. “Are you done with me?”

Her brow pinched in confusion. “What?”

“You know the truth now. You know how fucked up I am. Why I do the shit I do. So are you done with me?” My skin grew clammy. The thought of losing her, of having her take away the only light in my life . . . it fucking killed.

“No,” she breathed. I saw her amber eyes go wide before I lost sight of them when she rested her forehead against mine and squeezed them shut. “God, Jens, no. I’m glad I know the truth because it helps me understand you better. I’m not done with you. I’m not sure I ever will be.”

The effort was brutal and my body screamed in objection, but I managed to lift my arms and wrap them around her, pulling her warm body even closer. “Good,” I said quietly. “’Cause I don’t ever want you to. I love you, sunshine.”

She shifted her position, resting along my side with her head on my shoulder and her arm laying across my waist. “I love you too, bunny.”

I rolled my eyes, even though I secretly loved that nickname. We lapsed into silence, and a few minutes later, I fell asleep with my girl pressed against me.

Chapter Sixteen

Shane

I’d known I was in trouble when I woke up Saturday morning and the heaviness in my limbs had turned to stiffness, making it almost painful to move. When I managed to peel my eyes open and saw the numbers on my alarm clock read a good three hours later than I normally woke up, I’d made the mistake of trying to jump out of bed and rush so I could get ready and go pick up Brantley.

That was when it had hit me: the stuffy head that pounded like I had a marching band inside of it, the body-wracking chills, the aches that started in my scalp and radiated all the way down to my toes.

The night before hadn’t been a fluke or the effects of not eating. It had been a precursor for something bigger. I had the stupid freaking flu.

I did my best to downplay it when I’d called Caroline and asked if