Give me a chance.
We can work things out.
After all the time we’ve spent together…
One by one, my fingers curled into fists. Maybe their relationship was on the rocks, but nothing,absolutely nothing, gave Alec the right to cheat on Violet. I’d witnessed firsthand how my dad’s infidelity had crushed my mom, and knowing that I might have caused Violet the same pain made me sick.
Closing my eyes, I tried to take a breath, but my lungs wouldn’t cooperate. It felt like my chest was caving in with each strangled gasp I took.
“Felicity?” My eyes flickered open. Alec was standing two feet away, watching me with concern. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I snapped. “Not in the slightest.”
How could you?I wanted to scream.How could you kiss me and laugh with me and share bits of your life, when clearly there’s someone else who’s more important to you?
He startled at my sharp reply. “Okay…is there something you want to talk about?”
“Sure, Alec. Let’s talk.” My voice sounded different to my ears—broken, bitter. “How about we start with the fact that I just heard your conversation with Violet.”
I had to give it to him. Alec didn’t flinch at being caught. “That upset you?” He seemed genuinely confused. “Why?”
“Wow. Considering what I told you about my parents, how my dad cheated on my mom, did you really think I wouldn’t be upset?” Shaking my head, I backed away from him.
“Whoa, I don’t know what you think you heard, but there’s some kind of misunderstanding—”
“No, stop.” I held up my hand. Did he think I was stupid? Deaf? “I don’t need to hear your excuse.”
With a single step forward, Alec filled the space I’d created between us and cupped my face in his hands. Even though I was furious with him, my eyes fluttered shut and I leaned into his touch, allowing myself a moment to memorize the feel of his fingers on my skin.
I knew it would be the last time.
“Did I do something to make you not trust me? Because I don’t understand why you’re being like this,” he said, a tremor of panic in his voice. “After everything we’ve been through this weekend, you can’t give me a chance to explain?”
His words made me yank away. “Explain what? That you’ve been stringing me along this whole time?” An indefinable emotion swelled inside me. Whether it was rage or anguish I couldn’t tell, but I didn’t have the restraint to step away and sort it out before I said something I regretted. “What did you expect? That because you helped me find Rose, I owed you? Or is it that I should consider myself lucky, no matter how many people you’re seeing, because you’reAlec Williams?”
It wasn’t fair to throw the fame thing in his face, but words were pouring out of my mouth that I’d never say under normal circumstances, like part of my brain had blown a fuse.
Alec’s steady composure withered, his expression flipping between hurt and anger. “Is that honestly what you think of me?”
Yes!I wanted to shout, but my sentimental side—the part of me that was still head-over-heels for Alec—made me pause.
“I don’t know,” I said, hating the way my voice shook. “But I’ve dealt with too many lies recently, and I’m done with it. I don’t have the strength to sort out what is and isn’t the truth, especially if the answer is something I don’t want to hear.”
“So that’s it then?” The question came out like ice.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I suppose it is.”
“Fine.” His face hardened into a mask. Rather than finding the sharp intelligence and kind spirit I normally saw in his eyes, I was met with emptiness. He’d never looked at me that way before, indifferent, like I was nobody to him. “Tell Asha and Boomer good-bye for me.”
Then he turned to leave, and I felt my chest split in two.
***
“This istragic,” Asha said. “Like Rose-not-making-room-for-Jack-on-the-door tragic.”
Was she seriously comparing my falling-out with Alec to theTitanic?
I ground my teeth together. “Nobody died,” I told her as I stared out the rain-streaked window at the forest blurring by. Today’s gloomy weather matched my mood perfectly. “Please stop acting like somebody died.”
