CHAPTER ELEVEN : The Journal19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnPqNqoXuS1
(Her POV)
She didn’t mean to find it.
She was just looking for a hoodie in his drawer.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xQ97Vlgfo
Something soft, something that smelled like him.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD6KsFVWueT
But under the folded fabric was leather—19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aaqR6tEpb
old, cracked, and familiar in the way secrets always are.
A journal.
Her name was carved into the spine.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEi3uPVcj91
Not in full.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMLLtIZV73
Just an initial.
But it was enough.
She knew she shouldn’t open it.
She was raised better than that.
But love has a way of making you braver than you should be.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdBbDVsBZAt
And fear?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDQQGcagSd
Fear makes you reckless.
The first few pages were clinical.
Dates.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPrOoW0s2E
Appointments.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaiPn4X5nO5
Clients.
Names she didn’t recognize.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeekB2kpiK
Stories she wished she could forget as she read them.
Women who came broken.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSajMYOc0AF
And left… not always whole.
Some pages were crossed out.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYPBhMV4AU
Some had stains.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOZfYfZ771
Wine?19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYefyrGX0f6
Tears?
She wasn’t sure.
Then she saw it.
A page without a name.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7HXDTgAu17
Only a title:
“Her.”
She sat down.
Hands trembling.
And read—
“She didn’t come in for pleasure.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFuAfxqoGxY
She came in trying not to fall apart.”
“Her laugh made me forget I had rules.”
“I didn’t mean to touch her like that.”
“I didn’t mean to need her like this.”
“If she ever finds this journal,19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxclS4auoSn
I will lose her.”
“But if she never does…19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJIDY4m4oU
I might lose myself.”
She stopped reading.
The words blurred.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMlovLWnVq3
Hot tears dripped down the edge of the leather.
She closed the book and held it against her chest—19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIF9PEzwrAC
like maybe it could tell her what to do.
The door opened.
She didn’t need to turn around to know it was him.
His voice was barely a breath.
“You found it.”
She nodded.
He didn’t ask what page.
He already knew.
“How much of it was real?” she whispered.
He walked to her slowly.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbebGANRzLq
Sat beside her.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0mmhzz4wr2
Didn’t touch her.19Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8WaysmA42
Didn’t lie.
“Everything,” he said.
She looked up at him. Eyes burning.
“Even the part where you said you might lose me?”
His answer shattered the silence:
ns216.73.216.169da2“That’s the part I pray was wrong.”
