Losers: Part II (Losers, #2)

by Harley Laroux

These conversations were never meant to be comfortable, and since she’d brought it up, I could only assume she wanted to talk about it. “I sneered at you,” she said. “I was so mean, and I barely knew you.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, looking down again. “I’m so sorry. For the things I said and did. For the way I made you feel. You’ve been a lot nicer than I deserve, Jason. You’ve done so much to protect me, and you really didn’t have to.” Her words left me staring in disbelief. During all my hours with her at the gym, I felt as if she and I had developed a particular comradery, a bond that was just ours. The past was best left alone; the painful things that happened, the awful things that were said — I tried not to let them matter anymore. But I’d also learned not to expect apologies. “I’m not going to lie to you, Jess.” I wanted to be gentle with her, I did. But if she was bothering to apologize, to confront how uncomfortable this was, then I had to do the same. “A lot of the shit that happened in high school fucked me up. It made me insecure. It made me hate parts of myself. It wasn’t solely you that led to that. I had worse bullies than you. But…” “But I was still a part of it,” she said. “I hurt you.” She was choking down a lot of emotions, clearly. Tears were wavering in her eyes as if they could fall at any moment. But she held them back, keeping her voice calm. She wasn’t trying to make this about her. She was doing everything she could to avoid making ...