I stood there with a pained expression. I inhaled sharply. I couldn't breathe. While my heart broke, I realized two things: one, he never loved me and two, he violated my trust in the worst possible way.
He looked at me and tried to say something - but no words came out.
It felt as though he had took a gun to my head, looked me dead in the eyes, and pulled the trigger. I tried to hold my tears back, I wouldn't let him see me cry. I gritted my teeth and without saying a word, turned to leave. I heard him get up, but I started a dead run down the hall. I burst through his front door and stopped running.
"Wait," he begged, panting behind me.
I turned on my heel to face him, "leave me alone! Please....... Just go away and never, ever talk to me again!"
My tears blurred my vision, but I could see his face; his expression will forever haunt me, it was a mixture of sadness, anger, fear, and worst of all...... Regret.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]