Chapter 2

I found a cheap motel off the interstate, the kind with flickering neon signs and sheets that felt like sandpaper. My ankle was swollen to the size of a grapefruit, a deep purple bruise already forming. I ignored it.

My phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Texts and calls from my groomsmen, my parents, Jocelyn' s family. I put it on silent and threw it on the other bed.

A few hours later, there was a heavy banging on my door.

"Ethan! Ethan, open this door right now! We know you're in there!"

My dad. Of course.

I hobbled over and opened it. My parents stood there, my mom' s face streaked with tears, my dad' s tight with anger.

"What in God's name were you thinking?" he demanded, pushing past me into the room. "You humiliated that poor girl! You humiliated our family!"

"Jocelyn collapsed, Ethan," my mom said, her voice trembling. "From the shock. They had to take her to the hospital."

I just stared at them. An act. It had to be an act to get sympathy, to make me look like the monster.

"I'm not going back," I said, my voice flat.

"She's at County General," my dad said, ignoring me. "You're going to go there, and you're going to apologize."

They practically dragged me out of the motel and drove me to the hospital. The whole way there, they talked about how sweet Jocelyn was, how perfect for me, how I' d thrown away the best thing that ever happened to me.

They didn't know. They couldn't.

They led me to her room. She was lying in the bed, looking small and pale, an IV drip in her arm. She didn't look like the popular homecoming queen anymore. She looked fragile.

Her eyes opened when I walked in. "Ethan," she whispered. "Why? Why won't you marry me?"

I stood at the foot of her bed, the memory of the phone call from the highway patrol fresh in my mind. I hardened my heart.

"Because I don't love you anymore."

The words hung in the air. The color drained from her face, and her eyes rolled back. She fainted.

A nurse rushed in, and my mom shot me a look of pure disgust. "Are you happy now?" she hissed.

I just turned and walked out.