The Truth about Heartbreak (The Truth About #1)

by B. Celeste

Someone told me a long time ago that trust is like an eraser; it gets smaller and smaller until there’s nothing left. I don’t want it to disappear, so I don’t use it much.

I hate pity. Pity makes people weaker, like it’s the only thing they’re willing to see when someone’s past becomes too much. Just telling her about my scars nearly broke her.

But Everett … they didn’t destroy him. He looked sad, angry, an array of mixed emotions, but not once did he let pity slither into those minty eyes. It makes me believe he’s the only one I can truly bare my soul to. All those deep-seated burns and bruises could spill from my lips and end the haunting memories that control my everyday life.

He says he’s not a liar, but he is. He hates saying he’s a cheater, but he is. And us? We’re toxic. Even if he won’t admit it. “I’m done.” I keep backing away, pinning him with a look of despair and anger. “I can’t keep putting myself through this, Everett. You say you’ll never hurt me, but you are. Every day that you love her, you stay with her, you’re killing me. And I deserve so much fucking better than that. Than you,” my voice cracks, just like the heart charm dangling from my necklace. Everett Tucker doesn’t have to break my heart, because I broke it myself by loving him. It’s funny how the heart can still hurt over something it has expected all along. But I guess that’s not entirely true. The truth about heartbreak is that there is no such thing. It’s your soul that shatters, along with every fiber of your being that screams for another person.

I promised her I’d be there, that she’d never lose me like she lost our child, and I plan on keeping my word. She’ll always have me, as a friend, as a memory, as someone to count on, she just needs to get past this—to move on.

“Signs are what people bank on when there’s too much doubt in something they want to believe,” he tells me slowly. “I looked for signs that would tell me Laura was coming back and dumping the tool she left me for.” He shrugs loosely, like he doesn’t care. “You can ask the universe for a sign or guidance, but it won’t do you a lick of good, kid. We see what we want to when we’re good and ready.”

Sometimes distance is hope in disguise.”

“It wasn’t really love that we felt for each other, even though we tried. I stayed with her because I made a promise that I wanted to make my family proud for keeping, and she stayed with me because she thought it was a way out of her father’s control. But it destroyed us. I’m not saying that’s any excuse for what I did, how I acted, but it’s my truth. We were stuck in a relationship that neither of us wanted to try taming or breaking apart because of our own reasons. I shouldn’t have gone after you until I was ready to accept the consequences of dissolving my promise to her, but the thought of letting my parents down, my grandparents, it killed me. Your father made me realize that promises don’t really mean anything if they’re not supported by commitment.”

“I was going to tell you anyway, because I want us to be the couple that shares everything with each other. I want our love to be truthful and honest even when it hurts us the most. I know, then, that you’ll truly be there for me, scars and all. Past and all.”