My Cheating Mate (Emma and Jeremy) novel Chapter 65

Chapter 65

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I took the phone but didn’t look at it. Just looked at her. “Thank you. For checking on me. For caring enough to worry.” “Of course I care.” Her voice softened. “Jeremy, just because we’re working through things doesn’t mean I’ve stopped caring about your wellbeing.”

“I know. I just “I struggled to find the words. “Sometimes I forget that you might still want me alive.”

“Jeremy.” She took my hand, her expression serious. “Listen to me very carefully. I want you alive. Healthy. Actually healing. Do I wish you hadn’t betrayed me? Obviously. Do I still hurt from what happened? Every day. But do I want you to destroy yourself over it? Never.”

“Even after everything I did?”

“Even after everything.” She squeezed my hand. “Because you’re more than your worst mistakes. And I still believe you can be better than who you were.”

The words broke something open in my chest. Permission I hadn’t known I needed to believe I was worth saving, worth healing, worth more than endless punishment.

“I don’t deserve you,” I whispered.

“Probably not,” she agreed, but her tone was gentle. “But Jeremy, stop thinking about what you deserve and start thinking about what you need to do to heal. For yourself, not for me.”

“What if I don’t know how?”

“Then we figure it out. Together. In therapy. With your father’s help. With the pack’s support.” She brushed hair off my forehead

-an unconsciously intimate gesture that made my heart ache. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

“I’ve been alone for so long,” I admitted. “Eve

thinking I could handle everything by myself.”

everything fell apart. I was alone in my lies, alone in my guilt, alone in

“Well, you can’t. Handle everything alone, I mean.”

hunting rogues for three weeks straight.”

Shes

stood. “Now get up. Shower. You smell like someone who’s been

Despite everything, I laughed. “Romantic.”

“I’m not here to be romantic. I’m here to make sure you’re alive and functioning.” But there was warmth in her voice. “Come on. Up. I’ll make you something to eat while you shower.”

“Emma, you don’t have to-

r

“I know I don’t have to. I want to.” She moved toward the door, then paused. “And Jeremy? After you eat, we’re going to talk. Really talk. About the rogue hunt, about your health, about how we move forward from here.”

“Okay.” I slowly pushed myself out of bed, my body protesting but functioning. “Thank you. For coming. For checking on me. “That’s what people who care about each other do,” she said simply. “Now shower. You really do smell terrible.”

After she left, I stood in my bedroom for a moment, processing. Emma had come to check on me. Had been worried enough to break into my house when I didn’t answer. Had sat on my bed and held my hand and told me she still wanted me alive.

It wasn’t forgiveness. Wasn’t reconciliation. But it was something.

Something real and hopeful and terrifying in its kindness.

I showered quickly, washing away weeks of grime and exhaustion. Put on clean clothes that actually fit instead of hanging off my too–thin frame.

Chopters

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