“Listen to me… I care about you, and that’s why I can’t bear the thought of you having spent all of that time punishing yourself for a mistake, living what amounts to barely a half-life for a decade, and then throwing it away just because I came along?” My eyes sting as I bite back the emotion threatening to take over. “Thank you for a summer I’ll never forget. It was hella fun, hot stuff.” “No.” Beau’s grunt is desperate. “This isn’t just fun for me, Sage. I’m—” “No. No, you’re not, Beau Heartford.” He curses under his breath. “It’s ok.” Smiling through the tears, I imagine myself stroking a
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