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“Is it because you’re jealous?”
I didn’t answer right away.
“Why now, Kace?” she asked again.
Looking back at her, I swallowed. “Why not?” It was the cowardly thing to say, to not be honest with her, not tell her how I really felt. And she looked so sad in that moment, as if she had hoped I would tell her that I loved her.
Or maybe that was just me hoping, wishing.
And as she shook her head and glanced down at the ground with a forlorn expression on her face, I felt my heart rip in two.
Shiloh looked back at me. “Well, if it’s just a ‘Why not, because I’m on a date with Ian’ kind of offer, I’ll pass.” She gave me a tight-lipped smile and moved back toward the restaurant. I should have gone after her, pulled her in close and told her she was mine, that I loved her and wouldn’t let anyone else have her.
But instead, I stood there with my heart in my hand, wishing I’d done this a whole lot differently.
Chapter Four
Shiloh
“Are you okay?”
I looked at my mom and smiled, nodding. “I’m fine.” But I wasn’t. I hadn’t spoken to Kace in two days, not since he’d shown up at dinner with Ian and embarrassed me. But on the heels of that, I couldn’t help but feel this wave of pleasure that he’d been jealous enough to show up.
Then again, he acted like a barbarian, a caveman, saying he asked me out because I’d gone out with Ian, like I was just handing out dates left and right.
And that was what hurt most of all.
I was in love with Kace, but the way he acted made me feel like he saw me as a piece of property – jealous that I was spending time with others, specifically the opposite sex.
So I’d given myself a couple of days to think about all of this, to process it. He hadn’t tried contacting me and that told me he knew I needed this time.
It had been years that I’d kept the secret to myself, that I loved Kace. And to be honest, I’d never seen myself admitting that. I always kept us in the friend zone, not willing to risk things getting ruined. But things had changed two nights ago.
I felt the shift in our relationship.
I had seen the look of regret on his face right before I’d turned and headed back in the restaurant. If he’d just tried to talk to me, I would have told him that I was eating dinner with Ian as just friends, that I’d told him that, and he’d been fine with it.
But he’d gone all possessive and now things felt … different.
“Are you sure, honey? You seem a little out of it.”
I looked at my father after he spoke and gave him a small smile. “I’m fine, really.” I wanted to tell my parents about Kace, that I loved him, but I was scared.
I’d been accepted into the school of my dreams, and I knew admitting how I felt would worry them, maybe have them thinking that I wasn’t going to go, that I wanted to stay with him. And I did, if I was being honest. I wanted both things. I wanted college and I wanted him, but I couldn’t be selfish.
I needed to decide what I was going to do, and that meant figuring out where he stood, because being in this limbo was too exhausting, too draining.
“May I be excused?”
“Of course, sweetheart,” my mom said, looking a little worried.
I stood and froze for a moment, thinking about what my next move would be. It was a little after five in the evening, and I knew Kace would be at his father’s construction site. They’d been working day and night to get this project finished, and Kace had been working extra hours on the weekends.
I could’ve waited until tomorrow, maybe just called him and talked this through, but I wanted to see him face to face. I wanted to be able to look him in the eye when I told him that I loved him.
And that’s exactly what I was going to do, because I was done waiting. If what had happened two days ago was any indication, my heart was far too invested to think that I could keep everything hidden.
Tonight I was going to tell him how I felt, and I just hoped and prayed that it didn’t make things worse.
Kace
Two days. That’s how long it had been since I made an ass out of my possessive self.
Forty-eight hours I hadn’t seen Shiloh or heard her voice.
And as much as I’d wanted to call her and smooth things over, I knew I’d acted out of character with her and she needed some space. But hell, not talking to her was the hardest fucking thing.
