Laura
The night passed in silence around me, save for the quiet hum of the car engine. I sat hunched in the backseat, staring out the window at the blurred city lights, unable to hold back the flood of tears that had been building up inside me. My heart felt heavy, like a stone lodged deep in my chest. I couldn't believe this was happening.
I thought back to the look in Jake's eyes when those pictures went up on the screen, surprise, followed by anger, then the flash of something I dreaded more than anything, doubt. He hadn't said it, but I could feel it. In that one awful moment, I felt as if everything I'd just started to build with Jake, every warm, reassuring word, every laugh, had crumbled. He'd been my anchor, my partner in every sense of the word. And now, I feared he saw me the way everyone else in that room had. A scandal, a mistake.
What we hadn't even started was already crumbling right before me.
