CHAPTER ELEVEN : The Journal16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNmQQODKKkt
(Her POV)
She didn’t mean to find it.
She was just looking for a hoodie in his drawer.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZp1VFHKkr1
Something soft, something that smelled like him.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1jHGrmznMZ
But under the folded fabric was leather—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExQLzeaagj
old, cracked, and familiar in the way secrets always are.
A journal.
Her name was carved into the spine.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL2ax2psgac
Not in full.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡthQ2TUMbpd
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNK0jEKIhHv
And fear?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtanzYEV8db
Fear makes you reckless.
The first few pages were clinical.
Dates.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBT0BSNwDv
Appointments.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnnPA5MLTL9
Clients.
Names she didn’t recognize.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygNOr656wH
Stories she wished she could forget as she read them.
Women who came broken.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuOm5fcV5t5
And left… not always whole.
Some pages were crossed out.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6dHb14ljL
Some had stains.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABcsFMxelG
Wine?16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0Ft33hhac
Tears?
She wasn’t sure.
Then she saw it.
A page without a name.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3fMTO7L8JB
Only a title:
“Her.”
She sat down.
Hands trembling.
And read—
“She didn’t come in for pleasure.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwo9bVMeuq
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,16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OrLjBOUzL
I will lose her.”
“But if she never does…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsDZYizpTOE
I might lose myself.”
She stopped reading.
The words blurred.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbj0R5CPi0
Hot tears dripped down the edge of the leather.
She closed the book and held it against her chest—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIP2LqZyFv
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.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcwAJof8Ll
Sat beside her.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡym0YlJD6bx
Didn’t touch her.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosZLrkEVQn
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.”
