Justin – POV
I'm fucking stupid.
Stupid to believe she'd come back. Stupid to think I meant more.
Stupid to imagine that after everything—we'd still have something real.
She already hooked up with another guy.
Those words—they're acid. They burn every time they echo inside my skull.
The images come uninvited: her laughing in someone else's arms. Her flushed skin, her soft sounds, the way she used to look at me, now turned toward him. That stranger. That fucking replacement.
I punch the wall before the thought finishes forming. My knuckles split open with the first hit, but I don't stop. I don't want to feel anything but pain. At least it's real. At least it's not her.
The voices inside me roar.
The softer voice? He's curled up somewhere inside, gutted. Bleeding. I can feel his despair like a shiver across my bones. He whispers things like maybe she was scared and you pushed too hard.
Shut up.
