CHAPTER ELEVEN : The Journal22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuQwBHt75s
(Her POV)
She didn’t mean to find it.
She was just looking for a hoodie in his drawer.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo1bm6ffMTM
Something soft, something that smelled like him.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNuBxEC3X49
But under the folded fabric was leather—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSTrz3NFyE
old, cracked, and familiar in the way secrets always are.
A journal.
Her name was carved into the spine.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3DnOUja6Ob
Not in full.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2JZjM6sUqU
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3qxcw5lil
And fear?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTo9kInVSEO
Fear makes you reckless.
The first few pages were clinical.
Dates.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRvbChs5XD
Appointments.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxU0S4JU1ZV
Clients.
Names she didn’t recognize.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiVNQxN4J8
Stories she wished she could forget as she read them.
Women who came broken.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8b9sqdDj3
And left… not always whole.
Some pages were crossed out.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOKEGLQyg8
Some had stains.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDgvLGmDkz
Wine?22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFupYOMjr7P
Tears?
She wasn’t sure.
Then she saw it.
A page without a name.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVDp8xfM9b
Only a title:
“Her.”
She sat down.
Hands trembling.
And read—
“She didn’t come in for pleasure.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXY1TI0yBr
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,22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8xr48gqyX
I will lose her.”
“But if she never does…22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5uYAOhoGts
I might lose myself.”
She stopped reading.
The words blurred.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIFjcCTrc2
Hot tears dripped down the edge of the leather.
She closed the book and held it against her chest—22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrp1rATCXFJ
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.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq7cmYFORz6
Sat beside her.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD5dKKvEn6
Didn’t touch her.22Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVZQmGt4lb
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:
ns216.73.217.11da2“That’s the part I pray was wrong.”
