The Heart That Wasn’t Mine, the Life I Never Asked For Chapter 05

The Heart That Wasn’t Mine, the Life I Never Asked For Chapter 05

Something crossed Ethan’s face that I’d never seen there before.

A blank.

He stared at what I was holding and didn’t speak.

“Savannah, you’re telling me you just cut your own heart out?”

“Sure. I’ll go buy a pig’s heart from the butcher right now and tell everyone I cut mine out too.”

“Exactly. She’s just scared of this year’s challenge. Classic.”

“Vivienne loved what she loved. Savannah used her heart, so she doesn’t get to opt out of Vivienne’s passions.”

His friends piled on. I didn’t say a word to any of them.

I kept my eyes on Ethan.

“Ethan, what happened that night was my fault. If I hadn’t had an accident with my dress and borrowed Vivienne’s jacket, the doctors never would’ve gotten it wrong.”

“Everything you’ve done to me these three years, I accepted it. All of it.”

“But the heart. I actually did go to the hospital and have it removed. I’m giving it back to you right now.”

“This is where it ends between us.”

I started to reach for the extraction paperwork in my bag.

Jasmine stumbled.

She went down hard right next to me. The cooler hit the ground with her, the lid cracked, and ice water spread across the ground.

My paperwork soaked through in seconds.

“Savannah, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“Is the heart okay?”

Jasmine scrambled on the ground, trying to grab it. It slipped through her fingers, smearing against the wet dirt.

“Shaw, look at this.”

“There’s no way that’s human. She went to a grocery store and bought that.”

The laughter closed in around me. I bent to pick it up.

Ethan stepped forward and pressed his shoe down on it. Hard.

“What kind of childish game is this, Savannah?”

“Returning Vivienne’s heart? With this?”

“Where did you get the nerve to pass off a prop and call it hers?”

“Answer me!”

His voice came from somewhere above me, raw with fury.

My mechanical heart beat on without flinching.

“Ethan. That is Vivienne’s heart.”

“If you don’t believe me, call the hospital—”

He yanked my arm and pulled me upright before I could finish.

“The hospital?”

“You think I don’t know you could pay them off?”

“Savannah, I don’t care what you show me. You killed Vivienne. This year’s challenge is happening, and you are getting on that course.”

His grip on my arm was brutal. I struggled. He turned to his friends.

“What did you set up this year?”

“Downhill mountain bike. Vivienne’s grave is at the top of the ridge, so you ride from the summit straight to the road. We already brought the bike up. Just say the word and she’s on it.”

I froze. My whole body locked up.

That night at the Lakeshore Pileup, Vivienne and I had been trapped in a car together. In the dark, in the wreckage, I came close to dying more times than I could count. I hadn’t driven or ridden since.

“Ethan. I can’t do this—”

I grabbed my phone and started dialing the surgeon.

“If you won’t trust me, call my doctor yourself. He can tell you—”

Jasmine’s voice cut across mine.

“Savannah. Weren’t you at the hospital for an abortion?”