Love, Utley (Love Letters #1)

“I saw her put that pathetic little letter in your mailbox like some lovesick virgin. And I saved you the trouble of dealing with her.”

“You read it?” I whisper, feeling sicker by the moment.

“She was just going to distract you,” Essie answers. “She would’ve held you back.”

All the nights— all the hours— I spent thinking about Hannah. Angry at Hannah. Because I thought she abandoned me.

But it was me.

It was always me who let her down, not the other way around.

And this snake read the letter meant for me.

“What did you do with it?” It’s too late to rewrite history, but that letter is mine. And I want it.

“I tore it up.” Essie’s tone holds no apology. “I did you a favor and tore it up before you could ruin your career over some nerdy—”

I hang up on her.

I hang up because I can’t listen to another second of that bitch’s voice.

Setting my phone on the passenger seat so I don’t smash it to bits, I close my eyes.

I’m such a fucking asshole.

Essie is an asshole too. A completely shitty human to do what she did.

But I believed her.

I believed some woman I didn’t even like and lost the one I was starting to love.

Self-loathing fills me.

Hannah left because her mom almost died.

She left because she had to take care of her and run the family business.

She left, waiting for me to call.

I said something foolish about how much our time had meant to me.

I press my hands against my chest.

If I’d known, I could’ve told her how much she meant to me too.

I could’ve been something good in her life.

I could’ve helped her. Come down on my free weekends. Visited after the season ended.

But I didn’t.

I stayed at school.

I did everything I could to forget her. All because of Essie.

Essie…

I shove my door open and gulp in fresh air.