Betrayed On My Wedding Eve Chapter 23

Betrayed On My Wedding Eve Chapter 23

Something struck me.

Because no one ever let you just be a kid.

After the funeral, my father didn’t speak to me for months. Then my sister came and I became invisible. Then college, survival.

There really hadn’t been a moment when anyone treated me like a child.

No one to cry to. No one to laugh with. No point in either.

I looked down.

“Well. I’m not a kid anymore anyway. Can’t exactly just…”

I didn’t finish the sentence.

Something jolted through my ribs.

I yelped.

I turned.

Julian had poked me in the side.

He had an extremely satisfied expression.

“Who says you can’t?”

I tried to back away. He caught me.

There was apparently a switch on my left side. No matter how hard I clenched my jaw, the laughter came out anyway, helpless and uncontrollable.

“Stop! Not there. Oh my god. Please!”

I twisted away. He cornered me.

I braced for the next jab.

It didn’t come.

I opened one eye.

He had his palm out flat.

A candy sat in the center of it.

“For the little kid,” he said. “Well done.”

I stared at him.

Then I sat down on the floor, completely drained.

I unwrapped it and put it in my mouth.

Terrible. Cheap artificial fruit flavor. Sickeningly sweet.

But my eyes burned.

Julian crouched down and pulled me close.

“Go ahead. It’s okay to cry.

“I know you’re hurting.”

Warm. Solid. The kind of embrace that meant it.

How long had it been since I’d felt this? Since I’d believed I deserved it?

And here, in a place at the far edge of the earth.

He did it with a cheap piece of candy. Like I was a kid who needed to know it was okay.

I couldn’t hold on anymore.

The tears I’d bitten back at five years old, finally, twenty-some years later, all came out at once.

He kept patting my back. Slow, steady, while his shirt got wet through.

At some point, still crying, I fell asleep in his arms.