Page 119 of Ignition

I felt as though he’d sliced open the front of my chest, until my insides spilled out.

“I know.” My own voice trembled with guilt that was drowning me alive.

“I tried to warn you,” he repeated, rubbing the heels of his palms into his eyes.

“I’m so sorry. I tried not to—” I nearly said fall for him, but caught myself just in time. “You think I liked lying to you? It’s been hell.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, shrinking into them.

He let out a grim laugh that sounded more like a pained huff.

“Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t know how to tell—”

He raised a hand to silence me, and something tangled lodged in my throat, a knot of thorns that sliced with each breath.

“I’m not upset you didn’t tell me. I mean, I am, but—that’s not…” He let out a long shuddering sigh, before he turned fully, and his backlit silhouette stared back at me.

Silence stretched between us, but it wasn’t the comfortable kind I was used to around him. This one had teeth and pressed down on my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“He’s only gonna hurt you,” he said, hands flexing and relaxing at his sides, like he was considering shaking some sense into me.

Then, he took a step forward, and I could see his face again. Angry red blotches marred his cheeks, creeping down his neck. No hint of a dimple, or of the kind eyes I’d known.

My stomach bottomed out.

“We were supposed to go together. As friends.”

His voice was deadly quiet.

I wish he’d screamed.

Heat rushed to my cheeks as I twisted my hands in front of me and searched for the words.

“I know. It’s just—”

My thin voice landed like a pebble in a still lake.

“Just, what?” he snarled.

His face splintered before my eyes, a flash of something dark and jagged peeking out from underneath.

“After everything I told you about him, how could you be so—”

The curl to his lip spelled out what he hadn’t quite said.

“Excuse me?” I drew my chin up higher.

He was much too close, much too angry, and my arms crossed over my chest, creating a flimsy barrier between us.

“You heard me. You were throwing yourself at him!”

The frayed, tattered rope of hope I’d been clinging to snapped, plunging me into an icy, depthless lake.

His breath tore at my face, blue eyes glinting with something dark I didn’t recognise.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He always was charming.” The words dripped molasses-thick venom onto the floor, rooting my feet to the spot.

“But I thought you were smarter than that, Mia.”