Page 79 of Neo
A feeling of dread seems to settle in his bones. “How do you know that, Violet?”
The pain this discussion is causing Neo hurts me to my heart, but I need him to be honest with me…for once. I just need to know exactly who I’ve been sleeping with. Who I’ve fallen in love with.
“I just know.”
“Yes, I was in the car.”
“You never mentioned that before.”
“It’s hard to talk about, Violet.”
“But we’ve shared so many other things. I’ve damn near bared my soul to you. You know everything about my mother’s death.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t kill her!” he roars.
There it is.
“So you were driving the car?” I whisper, just like Kennedy suspected.
“Yes, I was driving, but everyone thinks that Jake was. It’s just a matter of time before it comes out, Violet. And I need to go pro before it all vanishes,” he explains desperately, dropping to his knees in front of me.
The utter hell Neo must have been going through all these years is unimaginable. I’ve felt some sort of survivor’s guilt for not getting my mom to the hospital, which I know was unrealistic and wouldn’t have saved her life, anyway. But his guilt must be excruciating.
“I hate this for you, but I just wish you could have told me,” I say regretfully. “You know I hate secrets and now I don’t trust you.”
“Going into the NHL won’t change anything for us, baby. In fact, it just means we can be together more. We can travel. I will give you the world.”
“Did you ever consider what I would want?” The realization of his complete selfishness is like a bucket of ice water, dousing my last embers of hope.
“Violet, please...” He reaches for my thighs, but I step back, an instinctive retreat.
“Don’t,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”
There’s a silence then, a void where once there was laughter and love. I can see the struggle in Neo’s eyes, the war between his dream and our reality.
“I thought we were in this together,” I continue, each word laced with a bitterness I never knew I possessed. “But you made your choice, and you did it alone.”
Neo’s shoulders slump, a warrior conceding defeat. “I’m sorry, Violet. I truly am. But there are other people I have to consider.”
I nod, a mechanical motion, my heart feeling like it’s been shattered into a million irreparable pieces. “I get it. Hockey is your dream. I’m just a blip on your radar.”
“Don’t say that! You know that isn’t true. I can still have that dream and have you in it. Nothing has to change.”
“I’m afraid that’s where you’re wrong.” I lay the folder on his desk and head to the door. “Everything’s changed.”
“Violet, don’t you walk out the door!” He commands.
“We’re outside of the love bubble, Neo. We’re not in bed. You don’t get to tell me what to do. You don’t get to say shit to me ever again unless I allow it.”
His eyes widen. “What are you saying?”
“This is over.”
“Because of this?” His fist lands hard on the tabletop, making a loud sound, and the papers inside the folder fly.
“Because of who we are. We’re just too different.”
“That’s what makes us work.”