Her Wicked Stepbrother: A Nolan Bastards Novella Page 13
On her way through the bedroom door for the last time, she tossed the old housekey in the trash can. It’d taken her six years, but she’d finally accepted the fact that her mom was never coming back.
She might’ve worried it’d take her as long to get over Aiden, but she already knew she’d never be completely rid of him. He’d left his mark on her. Her time with him lived like a tattoo on her heart, forever branding her as his.
As another semester slipped away, the tattoo became like a wound that’d never fully healed. It festered and oozed. One day, it might scar or callus over, but all that was dark and gnarly about it would remain inside her.
One day, Aiden would have to come home, and the darkness would be forced out into the light.
One day, though she had no idea when that day might come.
By the time the next Christmas rolled around, she’d developed the torturous habit of wondering what might have been if she’d chosen differently. What might they have become if she’d gone with him? If her dad had never caught them together? If their parents had decided not to get married? If she’d been stronger? If he’d loved her enough to come home? To give her a second chance? If she weren’t so riddled with flaws that he didn’t wish to at least try?
If… If… If…
If only.
If only the thought of him with another woman didn’t bring all the pain rushing back.
If only the threat of the day she’d see his face again didn’t leave her feeling shaken and devastated.
If only every time she found the courage to ask Cian or Rory about him, their stilted, cautious answers didn’t break her heart all over again.
If only Cian hadn’t let slip that Aiden had returned to Chicago for a visit. That he’d been only minutes away and hadn’t come to see her.
If only she could get over him, the way he’d obviously done her.
The wound on her heart throbbed with grief and anguish.
He may have loved her first, but it seemed she would love him last.
And while he may wish it weren’t so, she knew it wasn’t over between them. One day, they’d have to face each other and the consequences of what they’d done.
They’d have to acknowledge what they’d become.
Maybe then, only then, could they ever hope to be free of each other.
The End
…which is only the beginning…
* * *
Continue the Nolan Bastards Series with SAINT to discover how Aiden and Brynn find their happily ever after!
SAINT
I’ll never forget the first time I saw her, or the feeling of catastrophic dread that overcame me with the knowledge of who she was.
Please, not her. Anyone but her.
We couldn’t escape our fate. Not then. But now, things are different. We’re different. Older and wiser.
Colder.
Harder.
No teenage hormones or forbidden temptation will bring us together this time. No amount of lust denied will convince us to forgive what was done in the past. No matter what happens, I will leave again.
For her sake.
We’ve spent the past decade denying what we had. Denying what we were.
What we are.
A decade of trying to move on. Of trying to convince ourselves that we shouldn’t—we couldn’t—be together.
It wasn’t until I laid on the brutal concrete, the life draining from my body, that I finally understood our inescapable truth.
No matter how we might wish it otherwise, we were meant to be together.
And that was perhaps the most terrifying thing of all.
About the Author
Amy Olle is a USA Today bestselling author of sexy contemporary romances filled with charmingly flawed characters and cozy settings. She is delighted to put her Psychology degrees to good use writing romance.
Amy lives in Michigan with her long-suffering husband, brilliant son, and (female) turtle named George.