I put my hands on my hips. “I never made you do that. I told you you didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to, Olivia. That’s the difference. I wanted to be with you.”

“I haven’t met your family either.” But as soon as the excuse slips past my lips I wish I could yank it back.

“Not because you weren’t invited.”

I want an excuse but I don’t have one. He’s right, I was only half into this. He showed me every nook and cranny of himself.

“I get it; you went into this knowing it wasn’t going to last. You were planning on quitting this before it even started.”

I swallow back the guilt rising up in my throat.

He turns away from me and takes two steps toward the door. But instead of leaving, he turns back. “You’re not the only one who lost something. You’re not the only one who needed an escape this summer.” He pushes a hand through his hair. “And you took one more thing from me.” He shakes his head and his eyes squint at me like I’m too bright to look at. “It was so fucking selfish.”

I look down at my hands, at the pile of papers they’re sitting on. I didn’t feel selfish this summer. Aiden felt like something I was owed, like my reward for all of the crap. And I never once considered that he wanted me this way. That he’d be this upset about my leaving.

“Did you ever think this could work?”

I can hear us ending. This is the explosion I always expected. “I don’t know.” He looks disgusted with me, but it’s true. And when he walks out of my room, I know it’s over.

Chapter

Nineteen

AIDEN

I wonder what it is about fire that’s so cathartic. If it’s the heat, or the color, or the little snaps as anything in its path is destroyed. I’ve been waiting all summer for this; to feel this way. As I strike the match, it feels like the last three months have been building up to this. The night I drove off the road. Snap. The diagnosis I initially ignored. Snap. The ball that smashed into my face. Snap. The look on Coach M’s face when I walked out of his office. Snap. Letting go of all of the plans I had made. Snap. And now Olivia. Olivia treating me like a summer project, Olivia leaving, Olivia talking to Zander. Snap. Snap. Snap.