I watched in the side mirror as a semi-truck swerved, its massive tires obliterating the device into glittering dust. A strange peace settled over me. All our memories, the arguments, the begging texts, the photos I\u2019d cherished\u2014gone.<\/p>\n
\u201cMiss Lauren!\u201d Maria, our housekeeper, hurried over, her face pinched with worry. \u201cMr. Ethan called about an hour ago. He said you must call him the moment you get in.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a time I would have lunged over the seat. I\u2019d have cried, \u201cDon\u2019t touch her! She\u2019s not your girlfriend, I am!\u201d It would have ended with him yelling, calling me crazy and insecure before storming off to calm Chloe down.<\/p>\n
Over his shoulder, she shot me a look. A triumphant, glittering smirk that said, *He\u2019s mine.*<\/p>\n
After what felt like an eternity, the door swung open. Ethan stood there, wearing a frilly pink apron with a cartoon bear on it. The smell of garlic and herbs wafted out.<\/p>\n
From inside, Chloe\u2019s voice, thick with faux tears, called out, \u201cEthan! The oil spattered! My arm!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLauren?\u201d he said, irritation lining his brow. \u201cWhat are you still doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n
I opened my mouth. *Were you ever going to come back? Do you remember I almost died today? Do you even care?* The questions piled up, then dissolved into ash before they could leave my tongue. What was the point?<\/p>\n
We dropped Chloe off at her trendy loft. Ethan put the car in park, got out, and opened her door. He leaned in, carefully unbuckling her seatbelt as if she were made of glass. \u201cEasy does it,\u201d he murmured. He then lifted her out\u2014she wasn\u2019t even wearing heels\u2014and carried her to her front door.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d just hit send when Ethan slammed on the brakes. My head snapped forward, cracking against the headrest of the passenger seat.<\/p>\n
But today, I was just so\u2026 tired. A deep, bone-aching weariness that made everything seem far away.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d I said, my voice flat. \u201cI don\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It took me three hours to walk home to our Brooklyn brownstone. My feet were raw and blistered by the time I stumbled through the front door at midnight.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t come back. Minutes ticked by. The sun began to dip below the city skyline, painting everything in melancholic oranges and purples. My stomach growled. I had no phone, no wallet. Just the stupid, uncomfortable bridesmaid-ish dress I\u2019d worn for the shoot.<\/p>\n
My brain short-circuited. In five years, I\u2019d never once seen Ethan Carter so much as boil water. He claimed the kitchen was \u201cmy domain.\u201d<\/p>\n
He blinked, surprise flickering across his face at my tone. It lasted a second. Then Chloe sniffled, and his attention snapped back to her. He reached over, squeezing her hand. \u201cIt\u2019s okay, honey. Just a little scare. You\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can\u2019t hold onto your damn phone, you don\u2019t deserve to have one!\u201d he snapped, his eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror, hard and impatient.<\/p>\n
Finally, I got out and walked to Chloe\u2019s door. I knocked. And knocked.<\/p>\n
I stared at the empty space where he\u2019d been, then slowly, quietly, pulled the door shut.<\/p>\n
\u201cEthan!\u201d Chloe squealed, clutching her seatbelt.<\/p>\n
My phone, which had been resting on my lap, clattered to the floor by Ethan\u2019s feet. Without looking, he scooped it up, rolled down his window, and flung it out onto the freeway.<\/p>\n
I looked away.<\/p>\n
He was gone before she finished the sentence, sprinting back toward the kitchen. \u201cI\u2019m coming, baby!\u201d<\/p>\n
Fate Rolls Dark by Mark Twain 2 \u00a0Chapter 2 I watched in the side mirror as a semi-truck swerved, its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gave-up-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}