Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

“Ellie, come on.”

I stopped dead in my tracks and spun around, causing Nathan to slam into me. Instead, he gripped my arms to stabilize me. I stood there, stiff as a board, with my arms by my sides.

There was a time when his touch didn’t repulse me. I remember the days I craved being in his arms and hated when I had to pull away.

But those days don’t exist anymore. Not since he broke every single promise he ever made to me.

“You don’t get to call me Ellie anymore.” I yanked free from his grasp and put a good foot’s distance between us.

“Wha—what?”

The confusion on his face angered me.

I rolled my eyes in response.

“You always let me call you Ellie before.”

“That was before you broke your promises, therefore breaking my heart.”

“What are you talking about? What promises?”

“The fact that you are oblivious doesn’t help your cause, Nathan.” I spit his name and crossed my arms.

“Please, Ellie—Elodie. Please tell me what I did wrong.”

“It’s more so about what you didn’t do.”

Nathan’s mouth dropped open, and I watched as he shuffled through his thoughts.

“Fine, I’ll give you a hint. You promised me you’d get a job when you graduated. You promised me that we could get our own place out of your mother’s. You promised me you’d help me with bills. So far, the only thing we have is our own place. But I’ve been paying all the bills. Your mom has had to pay for our groceries this month. And I just can’t do it anymore.”

“I—there just aren’t any jobs out there.”

“Nathan, there are plenty of jobs. You’re just too damn picky! You want this one specific job that isn’t available.”

“It’s my dream.”

“Yeah, well, my dream doesn’t involve barely getting by while supporting a grown-ass man. We all have to make sacrifices. Taking a job that isn’t your dream job doesn’t mean giving up on your dream. You can still go for it, but you need to make money in the meantime.” I was almost screaming at him.

“Fine! I’ll get a job! Will you stay with me if I do that?”

I laughed. There was a day I would have given in. In fact, there were many days that I had given in. For over a year, I’d been giving in.

“No.” I held my tone as firm as I could but darted my eyes away.

“No?” Nathan repeated.

“No.” my voice was softer this time.

“But Ellie, we’ve been together for three years. You can’t just throw that away.” He closed the distance and gripped my arm again. It was gentle at first, but I knew it wouldn’t stay that way.

“Yeah, and for three years, I’ve listened to excuse after excuse. I believed in your promises. I just didn’t realize it was all empty until now.”

There it was. Nathan’s grip tightened.

My heart started racing, hoping that would be it.

“You can’t do this, Ellie. You can’t leave me. You just can’t.” He tried to mask his voice with anguish, but I could hear the anger beneath it.

He was trying to manipulate me.

Again.

But it wasn’t going to work this time.

Thankfully, my phone rang at that moment.

My best friend, Silvie’s name illuminated the screen with a photo of us from high school graduation. The picture might have been over five years old, but it was still one of our favorites.

“You’re not seriously going to answer that right now, are you?” Nathan spat his words at me.

Gone was the broken-hearted blubbering mess of a man. Now, all I could see were his true colors.

“Yes, yes I am.”

I swiped up on the green button on my screen, ignoring Nathan as I lifted it to my ear. “Hey, give me a second.” I spoke into the phone before sliding the bottom of the phone away from my mouth.

“Nathan, there is no salvaging this. You’re not going to get me to stay.”

“How about a break? Come on. Give me a chance. I’ll prove to you that I can do this.”

“What makes you think you can fix it now? Where was this over the years?”

“Because I don’t want to lose you.”

“So, you’re only willing to do what you promised to when I’m already one foot out the door?”

“If it means keeping you.”

I laughed. “Seriously? That’s it?”

“Elodie, I mean it!”

I turned to walk away.

“Elodie! Come back here! You can’t leave me. I can’t go on without you. Please! If you leave me, I’ll?—”

I spun on my heel and swiftly closed the distance between us. My hand was swinging by my side, still holding my phone with Silvie on the other end.

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. Don’t you dare put that on me!”

“What? It’s the truth. I can’t live without you. And you know that.”

“I cannot believe you’d stoop to this, Nathan.” Disgust flooded through me.

He knew just how delicate my own mental health was—partly because of the stress he’d been putting on me. And now, to tell me it would be my fault if he…disappeared? That was too damn far.

“I’m not stooping anywhere! You’re my everything, Elodie. Without you, I have nothing. And what’s the point of going on if I have nothing?”

I slowly shook my head as my nostrils flared. I took a deep breath, my chest heaving up and down. “You’re despicable.”

With that, I turned on my heel and stomped out of his mother’s house for the last time.

I almost forgot Silvie was on the other line until I looked at my phone.

“Shit, sorry.” I muttered into the mouthpiece as I cradled my phone between my ear and shoulder so I could find my keys.

“Dude. Did that fucker seriously just threaten to…” Even BESTFRIEND didn’t want to say it.

“Yep.”

“Goddamn.” I imagined she was shaking her head. “I’m so proud of you, El.”

“It wasn’t easy. I’ll tell you that much. But it hit its fever pitch.”

“I still can’t believe he got so angry with you for hanging out with me last night.”

“I’d say I can’t believe it either, but he’s been doing it for so long at this point, I shouldn’t have been surprised.”

“Master manipulator.”

Silvie sighed.

“Want to come over?”

“I’m already putting on my shoes.”