Free Distinction: The Distraction Trilogy #3 by A. E. Murphy Page A

four fucking years and I’ve only just gotten my shit together.”
    “Me too, Elle! You don’t know how hard it’s been.”
    I don’t? “I’m leaving.”
    I pull the door open and step out into the cool air. My body feels numb. I just need to get out of here.
    “Wait,” he pleads, grabbing the back of my jacket. Why can’t he just leave me alone? “I’m sorry… I pushed. I shouldn’t have.” I don’t respond. What exactly can I say? I pull free and begin down the driveway. “Elle!” He calls after me but I don’t stop.
    Fuck him.
    Fuck him and everything about him.
    Those tears I promised myself I wouldn’t release are now falling down my face.
     

Isaac
    “Eloise.” I grab her arm and spin her around. The tears falling from her eyes shatter me. I knew it wouldn’t happen, I knew it couldn’t be, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “I’ll take you home.”
    She sniffs and wipes away her tears with the back of her hand. “I can walk.”
    “Please… I’ve been unfair. I promise I won’t bring it up again.” I mean it too. It was wrong of me to even ask her for this. Even if she did take me back, we’d still be living a lie. There’s so much she doesn’t know, so much that would ruin us if she ever found out.
    I just panicked. The thought of never getting another chance with her like this forced my hand. I’m an idiot.
    If I’m going to even try to bring her back, she needs to know everything that happened.
    She’s just not ready to hear it yet, not after this stupid error on my part. I mentally kick myself. How could I have been so stupid?
    She follows me to the car in silence and I help her in, partly because I’m scared that if I let go of her, even for a second, she’ll walk away.
    “I need my phone back,” she tells me before I start the engine.
    I forgot about that. Even though it has been vibrating against my dick for the past ten minutes.
    I pull it out, laughing when she scrunches up her nose and takes it back after wrapping it in some kind of facial wipe. She sprays the screen with hand sanitiser and then the back before rubbing it.
    “I’m sorry,” I say genuinely.
    Her silence only further pushes the knife of rejection into my heart.
    She’s resolute. She doesn’t want me. She said so.
    I could tell her body wanted me but not her mind or her heart.
    Can I blame her?
    Nope.
    “You’re disgusting,” she says, her tone neutral.
    At first I think she’s talking about the way I behaved but I see the tilt in her lips and realise she’s referring to the phone incident.
    I smile a little, though it’s half hearted.
    “I’m sorry, Isaac,” she whispers as I put the car into gear. The sound of sorrow in her voice hurts me almost as much as her rejection. The fact that she thinks she has anything to apologise for is crazy.
    “Don’t.” I place my hand over hers. “I understand. It’s me who should be sorry.”
    “I guess we left things so suddenly that we didn’t have proper closure.”
    “Probably.”
    “At least now we…” she exhales. “Now we can move on.”
    I clench my jaw and nod. So close… if I hadn’t have pushed her I might’ve been able to slot myself back into her life. I’ve fucked it now. There’s no coming back from this. Her mind is set.
    I just… I don’t want to give up.
    But she deserves so much better.
    “You’ll still sign the papers… right?”
    I tense but nod. I’m not one to renege on a deal. “As promised.”
    Her body deflates; mine only stiffens further.
    Is this it? Are we actually done now? As soon as I sign those papers, we’re finished. There’s no going back.
    “Isaac!” Eloise screams and I see a blur of green.
    The sound of metal crunching and glass shattering sounds around me. I feel my body lurch to the side violently and scramble to gain control of my car. It’s impossible. We’re pushed off the road and I see a flash of field before the bottom of the ditch gets closer. There’s a pain in my side