CHAPTER ELEVEN : The Journal15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI0V0ftmH5g
(Her POV)
She didn’t mean to find it.
She was just looking for a hoodie in his drawer.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOYM4GZMS35
Something soft, something that smelled like him.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5KAptJsAHV
But under the folded fabric was leather—15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTm89RmDdI9
old, cracked, and familiar in the way secrets always are.
A journal.
Her name was carved into the spine.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrB5f6DIMuR
Not in full.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdSnLRRiDyq
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIrsorxVhe
And fear?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRo6c1GGBKs
Fear makes you reckless.
The first few pages were clinical.
Dates.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ2Ot532cIz
Appointments.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPimWQ5N8qY
Clients.
Names she didn’t recognize.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5yGMhVfdif
Stories she wished she could forget as she read them.
Women who came broken.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmP8MHPyxn
And left… not always whole.
Some pages were crossed out.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwtjQqTHSsq
Some had stains.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqcbLPDMsH
Wine?15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshg5nzVXDX
Tears?
She wasn’t sure.
Then she saw it.
A page without a name.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BwoWc4E69
Only a title:
“Her.”
She sat down.
Hands trembling.
And read—
“She didn’t come in for pleasure.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusTiQOVlTY
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,15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdlClzhrWnH
I will lose her.”
“But if she never does…15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPibwDn8u1d
I might lose myself.”
She stopped reading.
The words blurred.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdleNGBGzAG
Hot tears dripped down the edge of the leather.
She closed the book and held it against her chest—15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBeKkq9Lt1
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.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhhCapu9OJx
Sat beside her.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrsVDuIRsIX
Didn’t touch her.15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡodd4CCjBbp
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:
ns216.73.216.239da2“That’s the part I pray was wrong.”
