Loving a Man Who Forgot Me Novel Chapter 23
I spun around, grabbed him by the jersey, and dragged him away from the line of people and listening ears.
“Give you a chance?” I ripped my hand away from his shirt. “To explain? Explain what exactly?”
Our gazes locked, it felt like ripping my chest wide open all over again.
“I gave you your chance. I let myself believe you were still the Abel I loved, still my best friend.
That you and I were still us, that we could come back from what we became.” He looked away and it hurt as much as anything.
He couldn’t even meet my eyes and admit the truth.
“I believed you,” I whispered hoarsely. His green eyes found mine again and I had to ignore what I saw in them.
If I let myself look too hard, my resolve might have wavered, and I couldn’t let him get to me again. “Like an idiot.”
“Abbi,” “Don’t,” I snarled. “It’s true. I thought I was special because of our history. I thought you were finally ready to quit screwing around and playing this damn game we’ve been playing the last eight years.
You swore to me Abel, you swore to me that if I trusted you, you were going to make everything right. A few days was all you needed and then you’d come home to me.
So imagine my shock when I got that apology text with no explanation attached, and then had to find out from a celebrity gossip site days later that you were married in a hush hush ceremony.
There is no apology or explanation that makes it okay, that makes anything we’ve done okay. So now we both just have to live with it.” “Abbi, I’m so fucking sorry,” he choked. I shook my head. “Save it. Whatever excuse you have, I don’t think I can hear it.
I should have known better. But I do now. And I’m done. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep waiting for the guy I loved to come back, and letting this one I don’t even recognize use me. You changed, and I didn’t see it, or didn’t want to see it, but my eyes are wide open now.
And I don’t think I want to know you anymore.” Hurt, as powerful as the hurt I felt, flickered in his gaze, but it wasn’t possible. He couldn’t possibly feel half of what I felt. If he did, another woman wouldn’t be wearing the ring I always thought would be mine.
I turned and rejoined the line that had grown even longer. He didn’t follow me, and was back in his seat when I returned, arms laden with food and drinks. The second half of the game started, and I didn’t once look over at Abel.
I cheered on his brother, and joined in conversation with our parents, but did my best to pretend he wasn’t there. The first home game of the season ended with a twelve-point victory for the Panthers, and Aiden proved to everyone why a sophomore was the starting quarterback.
Between him and Rodney Creswell, Darlington’s star running back, it was shaping up to be a great season for the Panthers, and still it was all I could do to keep a smile on my face as the crowd around me erupted into celebrations.
Students packed the field, others filed out of the stadium, and those of us waiting on players, made our way down toward the tunnel that led to the locker rooms. My stomach grew queasy when Abel followed, not that I’d expected any differently. Hoped, yes.
It wasn’t long before one by one, sweaty players, stripped of their pads and jerseys, started to emerge. The seconds ticked by while we waited, and my dread swelled. Abel could ruin everything.
Last out of the locker room, Aiden appeared with Coach Richards. Coach slapped Aiden on the shoulder and then he was swept up in congratulations from our families. My dad reached out and shook Coach’s hand and congratulated him as well, and then Coach found me with his eyes. His face broke into an even wider grin.