Matchplay A New Adult Romance - By Dakota Madison Page 0,35

which I would make a critical decision. Did I want a relationship with Aaron?

When I took his hand, he exhaled. He seemed to be relieved. Then he interlaced our fingers and held my hand so tightly, I thought he might never let me go again.

I didn’t realize there was a park so close to campus. It wasn’t very large and was a bit on the rugged side with a lot of overgrown trees and bushes. Only one main path was paved and the rest of the smaller paths were dirt.

We stopped at a gigantic boulder that was flat on the top. “This is it,” he said. “It’s where I come to think. I call it my thinking rock. Original, I know.”

We both sat on the flat part of the boulder. It was extremely quiet. It made sense to come here when he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. “It’s peaceful,” I said.

He cleared his throat. “There’s a lot I want to tell you but I’m not sure where to start.”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

He gave me a half smile. When we caught each other’s eyes, the chemistry between us was still in full force. I held back a shudder.

He took a breath and spoke, “I’ve been miserable since I saw you kiss that other guy.”

“Lucas.”

“In my mind, I kept seeing him holding your hand and touching you. It was driving me crazy. I wanted to be the one touching you and holding you and kissing you. Not him. Not anyone else.”

I nodded. I knew how he felt. “I feel the same way when I see you with other girls.”

He grabbed both of my hands into his. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

I nodded.

“There are some things I need to tell you about my past. It will explain a lot. I want to be honest with you about everything. I just don’t want you to think any less of me because of my past. I want to be a better person for you. I want to be the person you deserve to be with. I want you to give me another chance to prove myself but I need for you to know why I did the things I did.”

He looked at me with such vulnerability, I almost cried. “Okay.”

“I completely and totally destroyed the only real relationship I ever had. I was sixteen. The girl I was going out with, Chloe, was a wonderful person. Beautiful inside and out. She loved art, like you, but she didn’t study it, she created it. She always wanted to be an artist. She was kind and she really cared about other people. And she loved me. That turned out to be her greatest fault. I managed to totally fuck up our relationship and break both of our hearts in the process. “

“What happened,” I murmured, although I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Chloe sounded perfect. How could I ever compete with her memory? And how did he break her heart?

Aaron continued, “For Spring Break, a bunch of us decided to go to my parent’s lake house. I planned on riding to the lake with Chloe and her cousin, Elena, on Friday afternoon. Right before we left, Chloe said her sister was having problems with some of the plans for her wedding, which was just a few weeks after break. Chloe said she had to help her sister but that she’d drive up and meet us the following day.

“I guess I didn’t know Elena as well as I thought. When we got to the lake house, she started hanging all over me. Touching me. Flirting. At first, I tried to turn her off but the more I did, the more aggressive she got. A few other couples arrived and the beer started flowing. Elena and I got really drunk. She started to kiss me. I tried to fight her off but I guess I wasn’t as convincing as I should have been. We ended up sleeping together.

I didn’t remember a lot of what happened that night but the next morning, Chloe found me and Elena, asleep , naked and hanging all over each other. I can still see the look on Chloe’s face. It was a look of complete and utter devastation. There was so much hurt and disappointment in her eyes and I knew I had caused it. I had completely betrayed her.”

Aaron had a faraway look in his eyes. He continued, “I was heart sick. I felt like I