“I thought if I told you, you’d never look at me the same. That you’d hate me. That I’d ruin everything. And I didn’t want to ruin everything, Lyra. I didn’t want to lose us. You were the only thing in my life that ever made sense. You were always there for me. Always. Even when I didn’t deserve it. And I was stupid, I was selfish, and I didn’t stop it when I should’ve, and it happened so fast, and I thought if I just pretended it didn’t, it would go away. I thought maybe I could forget it, maybe I could carry it for the both of us. But it didn’t go away. It’s been eating me alive.”
She was crying so hard now I could barely understand her, but I heard every word.
“And I watched you cry, and I wanted to confess a million times,” she kept going, hands over her face, voice wrecked. “I wante
