Chapter 2

I didn’t sleep all night. Early the next morning, I went out.

Ethan’s shoes weren’t by the door. Apparently, he’d left even earlier.

I drove straight to my friend Ryan Hayes’s apartment. It was in an older complex, but the location was good and getting around was easy. He’d bought it a long time ago, though no one had ever lived there.

It had two bedrooms and a living room. The price was reasonable, too. He was giving me a friend’s discount.

After looking around, I was happy enough to decide on the spot that I wanted it.

The paperwork would take a few days, but he told me I could move in first. We’d known each other for years. A few days wouldn’t matter.

I was incredibly grateful. Once I’d mostly finished tidying up, I cooked a big dinner and invited him to join me.

We were chatting happily when Ethan called.

“Lily, where are you?”

“What do you need?”

My tone wasn’t exactly friendly. Unlike before, when I’d been eager to share everything with him, I sounded distant.

Maybe he wasn’t used to it. It took him a moment to answer. “I’m taking you to dinner with some people.”

I casually ate a piece of fish. “Take someone else. I’ve already eaten.”

Before he could reply, I heard a sugary female voice beside him.

“Ethan, she’s so inconsiderate. You offered to take her to dinner, and she won’t even do that much for you. She obviously doesn’t care about you.”

Then the call ended.

I gave a cold laugh and set my phone aside.

Sometimes Ethan truly disgusted me. He wanted what he had and everything else, too. Nothing was ever enough.

Was this how he showed off his charm in front of his loser friends? Or did he just enjoy having two women fight over him?

It was revolting.

When I pulled myself out of those thoughts, my appetite was gone. That was when I noticed Ryan watching me.

“Your boyfriend’s still pulling the same crap?” he asked.

My hand paused, and I looked up. The three of us had gone to the same college. Ryan and Ethan had even been roommates, so he knew some of what had happened between us.

I nodded as though it didn’t matter. He let out a quiet, humorless laugh.

Ryan sighed. “Lily Bennett, I know people usually say you shouldn’t tell a couple to break up. But we’ve been friends too long for me to keep my mouth shut.”

“You can’t force someone to love you. You’re a good person. You don’t have to waste your whole life on someone who isn’t worth it.”

He was right. Our friends knew better than anyone what this relationship had been like.

When Ethan first started flirting with other women, they’d taken my side and urged me to let go.

They told me not to lower myself. It wasn’t that I wasn’t good enough. Ethan wasn’t worth it.

But I couldn’t accept it. I refused to let go and stubbornly held on for seven years. I believed that one day Ethan would see everything I did for him and remember how he’d once loved me.

But those seven years had worn me down.

All my love had earned me was one wound after another.

He was certain I would never leave. He counted on my desperation, hurt me without a second thought, then tossed me a few sweet words to make me obedient again.

I’d spent seven years of my youth on him. How could I simply accept that it was over?

Maybe time had finally opened my eyes. Maybe something had clicked all at once. Either way, I’d decided to break free.

For this relationship, I’d shut out the people who cared about me and kept throwing myself against the same wall until I was covered in bruises. It was time to turn around.

“Why do you think I’m buying an apartment?”

I smiled, finally at peace. Ryan froze for a moment, then understood and smiled, too.