Bab 59: Chapter 59: Contact

"Just hope I'm in there a little deeper," he'd murmured, but Alessa had pretended she didn't hear. There was a time not long ago when that entreaty would have elicited a resounding affirmation from Alessa. But the truth was, she just wasn't sure anymore.

Of course, she loved Isaac, deeply. And what she'd told him - that she would choose him as a partner over Joe - was true. But that was also her head speaking. Her heart… at the moment, that was a different story.

Joe really had somehow cockroached himself deep inside her, more so, she was realizing now, than she'd ever thought before. The absolute last thing she wanted was to hurt Isaac, but she couldn't lie to him, either. Isaac and Alessa would be together forever - she certainly wasn't questioning that - but if Joe were still alive… who knew? She couldn't deny that things likely would have played out much differently if he'd never been taken by Paragon. It might have been Alessa and Joe.