After My Last Rewind, They Begged Me to Stay Chapter 02

After My Last Rewind, They Begged Me to Stay Chapter 02

At the last possible second, a pair of hands yanked me back from the middle of the road.

The truck roared past close enough to graze my back.

“Eleanor! Have you lost your mind?!”

It was Nathaniel.

I looked up at him.

The fear in his eyes hadn’t faded yet; his knuckles were bone-white.

I shook him off and turned, walking stubbornly back toward the road.

He caught me with a slap across the face.

I turned my head, the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth.

Nathaniel let out a cold laugh.

“You almost had me.”

He released my arm and stepped back, crossing his own.

“You’re playing the victim, aren’t you?”

I said nothing.

“Who in this house doesn’t know you can’t actually die?”

His voice was full of disgust.

“You lost the necklace I gave Sienna on purpose to hurt her, and we punished you for it—and now you dare use your own death to threaten us?”

I looked at him, remembering the last rewind.

After Sienna went missing looking for that necklace, he’d come to me with red-rimmed eyes and begged.

“Eleanor. Next time you rewind, just tell them you lost the necklace on purpose. Then Sienna can finally let it go.”

“Don’t worry. As long as you explain it to us clearly when the time comes, we’ll believe you.”

But in reality, after I’d taken the lashes and, half-conscious, told them the truth, Nathaniel had only looked at me, ice in his eyes.

“You think an excuse about rewinding and rebirth is going to work on us?”

“Since you refuse to admit what you did, you’ll kneel there until you do.”

Now, he was dragging me back into the house by the wrist.

“Don’t waste your energy. I had a tracker put on you. The second you try anything, I’ll know.”

His expression turned bleak.

“You’re still useful to us. Even dying requires our permission.”

I bit down on my lip and forced back the tears.

Nathaniel used to be the one who loved me most.

No matter how many times I told him I’d come back even if I died, that it didn’t matter—he still watched me like a hawk and refused to let me use the ability.

That changed the day a rival set Nathaniel up and he was in a car accident that should have killed him.

Ignoring Julian and Weston’s protests, I killed myself and rewound time, pulling him out from under the wheels just in time—at the cost of putting myself in the hospital.

Nathaniel realized immediately what I’d done.

He held me and sobbed until his shoulders shook.

“I’m sorry. I failed you. I didn’t protect you.”

The man who’d once sworn to protect me for life was slowly turning into this cold, distant stranger.

Nathaniel locked me back in my room.

“Sit here and think about what you’ve done.”

Then he walked out.

I looked around the room.

There was a window that hadn’t been latched all the way.

I walked straight to it, pushed it open, and looked down.

Fourth floor. High enough to get me out of here for good.

I climbed onto the sill without hesitation, ready to jump.

“Eleanor, don’t you dare!”