Chapter 98\u00a0<\/p>\n
42%\u00a0<\/p>\n
She didn\u2019t need me to protect her anyway. She wasn\u2019t a baby. She was a grow woman who could take care of herself, and maybe it was time I stopped using her safety as an excuse to stay close to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My bike roared to life, and I peeled out of the driveway like the devil himsel was chasing me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The flower shop was just opening when I pulled up, the elderly owner giving me a concerned look as I stumbled through the door. I probably looked like\u00a0<\/p>\n
hell, unshaven, hollow\u2013eyed, desperate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe usual?\u201d she asked gently, and I nodded, not trusting my voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
White lilies. Jess\u2019s favorite. She used to say they reminded her of new beginnings, of hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My hands were still shaking as I paid for them, and the woman wrapped them with extra care, like she could sense this wasn\u2019t just any ordinary day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cemetery was quiet when I arrived, the morning mist still clinging to the grass between the headstones. I parked my bike in the same spot I always\u00a0<\/p>\n
right by the main gate, and walked the familiar path to where they were waiting for me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
and\u00a0<\/p>\n
our unborn child. My family. The family I\u2019d failed to protect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knelt down and placed the flowers carefully at the base of her headstone, my fingers tracing the letters of her name. Jessica Marie Hayes. Beloved\u00a0<\/p>\n
daughter, devoted partner, loving mother\u2013to\u2013be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The silence stretched around me, heavy with accusation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby,\u201d I said finally, my voice cracking on the word. \u201cI\u2019m sorry for being late I know you were waiting for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The guilt was a living thing inside my chest, clawing at my ribs, making it hard to breathe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was supposed to be our day. I was supposed to spend the entire day here with them, talking to them, remembering them, honoring what we\u2019d lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Instead, I\u2019d been ten hours late because I\u2019d been busy betraying everything they\u2018 meant to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I bowed my head, shame washing over me. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry for letting you down Again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word hung in the air between us. Again. Because this wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019d failed them, was it? I\u2019d failed to protect them when they needed me\u00a0<\/p>\n
most. I\u2019d failed to save them when her contraction started but I wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now I\u2019d failed them in a whole new way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I need to tell you something,\u201d I whispered, my throat so tight the words bargy came out. \u201cI need to be honest with you, even though it\u2019s going to hurt.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A bird called somewhere in the distance, but other than that, the cemetery was silent. Like she was waiting for me to spill my humiliating truth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was with someone last night. Another woman twice. Athena. Orion\u2019s littlester. The words tasted like ash in my mouth. I took her in our kitchen,\u00a0<\/p>\n
on the counter where we used to\u2026 where you used to help me cook dinner, when we used to make love, where we made little lessy..\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My voice broke completely then, and I had to stop talking for a moment. Wh I looked up at her headstone, I swear I could feel her disappointment radiating from the carved stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019re angry with me. I can feel it. And you have every right to be. ears were running down my face now, hot and bitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
19:39 Tue, Jan 6 TD\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 98\u00a0<\/p>\n
I promised you I\u2019d never love anyone else. I promised you I\u2019d keep your merry sacred, and I broke that promise on the worst possible day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The silence felt different now. Colder. Like she\u2019d turned away from me the wil I deserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWill you forgive me, honey? I begged, pressing my palm flat against the he stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
42%\u00a0<\/p>\n
I promise it won\u2019t happen again. It will never happen again. I\u2019ll stay away from her. I\u2019ll go back to just visiting you and remembering what we had.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Please don\u2019t leave me alone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But even as I said the words, I knew they were lies. I could still feel Athena\u2019s skin under my hands, could still taste her on my lips. I could still hear the\u00a0<\/p>\n
way she\u2019d said my name when I\u2019d made her come apart in my arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And the worst part was, some terrible part of me didn\u2019t want to forget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stayed there for hours, talking to the headstone, begging forgiveness I didn deserve, making promises I wasn\u2019t sure I could keep. The sun climbed\u00a0<\/p>\n
higher in the sky, warming the back of my neck, but I felt cold all the way through.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I finally stood to leave, my knees were stiff and my back ached. But the pain in my body was nothing compared to the pain in my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I love you,\u201d I whispered to the headstone. \u2018I\u2019ll always love you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 98 Chapter 98\u00a0 42%\u00a0 She didn\u2019t need me to protect her anyway. […]<\/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":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26255","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=26255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}