Chapter 101

[ 761 words ]

Sebastian’s POV

Before I realized where I was going, I found myself pulling up in front of a small restaurant on the edge of the university district. The Pepper Mill. It was one of those hole-in-the-wall places that served spicy Cajun pasta and burgers that could burn a hole through your stomach if you weren’t careful. Abigail used to love this place. She could eat the spiciest thing on the menu without even breaking a sweat, while I’d be chugging water and trying not to embarrass myself.

I sat in the car for a long time, just staring at the crooked sign above the door. I hadn’t been here in years.

Finally, I got out and walked inside.

The restaurant looked almost exactly the same. Same mismatched chairs, same chipped tables, same wall covered in notes and graffiti from every college kid who’d ever passed through.

I first saw her here in my senior year. She was a junior back then. Abigail. The sunlight was pouring through the glass that day, and she was sitting by the window. She seemed to be reading a funny book because she had this bright, childlike smile on her face.

That afternoon stuck with me. The sunlight. Her smile. It carved itself right into my frozen heart.

I’d been popular with girls since middle school, mainly because of my family background and looks. But I never really liked any of them. To me, they were all just daydreamers who got on my nerves. Then Abigail came along, and she changed everything.

She was warm. Open-minded. Smart. Beautiful. Qualities I’d never seen in any other girl.

And just like that, we fell for each other. Hard. Completely.

That wall had always been Abigail’s favorite part. She used to write little messages on sticky notes and stick them up there, and I’d tease her about being sentimental and childish. But then, a few days later, I’d sneak back and read every word she’d written, like some lovesick idiot.

“Can I help you, sir?”

The owner was different now, a middle-aged man with a thick Southern accent who clearly had no idea who I was. That was fine. I preferred it that way.

“Spicy Cajun pasta,” I said. “Extra hot.”

He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, and I walked over to the wall. There were hundreds of notes pinned up, some fresh, some yellowed with age. I scanned them quickly, looking for her handwriting. I knew it by heart. The way she looped her Rs, the way her Ts always tilted slightly to the right.

And then I found it.

A pale blue sticky note, half-hidden behind a flyer for some long-past campus event. The ink was faded, but I could still read every word.

[I used to like you so much, and I still like you so much now. I really like you, but I can’t be with you.]

[September 9th. Abigail Tanner.]

My hand shook as I reached up and pulled the note down, holding it carefully like it might disintegrate if I gripped it too hard. The date stared back at me, mocking me. September 9th. The day before she left me at the altar. The day before she destroyed everything we’d built together.

My wolf, Ryder, was howling inside me. He didn’t understand. Hell, I didn’t understand.

I’d spent three years hating her. Three years building walls around my heart. Three years convincing myself she was a liar, a cheater, a traitor.

And now?

Now I didn’t know what the fuck to believe.

The owner brought my food over, but I barely tasted it as I forced myself to eat. For the first time in my life, the spice didn’t register. All I could taste was bitterness.

I’d been so sure. So damn sure that Abigail had betrayed me, that she’d chosen Damien over me because I wasn’t enough. But now, sitting here with her note in my hand and her words burned into my mind, I didn’t know what to think anymore.

What if I’d been wrong this whole time? What if there was more to the story than I knew? What if she’d loved me right up until the end, and something else, something I didn’t understand, had torn us apart?

The thought was almost worse than the betrayal itself. Because if she’d loved me, if she’d tattooed my name on her chest and written this note and still left me anyway, then what the hell had happened? What could possibly have been so bad that she’d walked away from us?

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