From cover to cover, Alec had filled my book with fragments of himself. I was so absorbed in reading them that I didn’t realize Oliver had returned until I heard him speaking.
“This will be real quick, I promise.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I should be with my family right now.”
My head shot up at the sound of Alec’s voice.
“I know, I know. But this is important,” Oliver told him. “Just bear with me.”
I tossed the paperback onto the cushion beside me and jolted to my feet. A second later, the boys stepped into the room, and my chest hitched at the sight of Alec. The tux he wore sent me back to the night we first met, back to before I’d ruined us. His brows were knit together in a frown, as if he was trying to figure out why he’d been dragged away from the party. As I watched, he patted his hair, checking to make sure every blond lock was in its designated place.
Heart throbbing at the back of my throat, I waited for him to spot me. Finally, he glanced up, and when our gazes locked, he came to an abrupt stop.
“Welp, I’ve done my part,” Oliver said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m going to leave you two alone now.” He shot me a thumbs-up before inching backward in the direction of the exit.
The moment we were alone, I wanted to rush into Alec’s arms.
Instead, I planted my feet and lifted a hand in greeting. “Hi.”
For a long time, apainfullylong time, he said nothing. I stared at him, my breath bottling inside my chest as I waited for a response. If he didn’t say something soon, I was going to run out of oxygen.
“Felicity.” His tone was guarded, careful. “What are you doing here?”
The question stung, but I ignored the pain and answered. “I wanted to see you.”
“Why?” he asked, his steel eyes narrowing.
I felt myself wince, like his words were a slap across the face. To have him look at me like that—like I was poisonous—was excruciating.Things could be worse, I tried to convince myself.At least he’s talking to you.
“Because,” I said. “A super smart guy once told me that his mother said it’s always important to apologize in person.”
Alec crossed his arms and waited. Okay, so he wasn’t going to make this easy for me. I guess I deserved that.
Taking a quick breath, I started over. “Violet came to see me yesterday.”
Thatgot a reaction out of him. “What? Why would she do that?”
“To set the story straight,” I replied and began inching my way across the room. “She said King went back on his promise to let you produce her record, and that you begged her to reconsider when she contemplated signing with another label.”
I stopped a yard away from him and gave myself a moment to work up enough courage for what was coming next.You’ve got this,Felicity. All you have to do is open your mouth and say you’re sorry for being the biggest ass in the world.
“I know this isn’t the best time, but I need to apologize for what I said in Seattle.” I glanced at the carpet, tucked a loose curl behind my ear, and then looked back up at him. “Alec, I’m so sorry. You were nothing but kind to me, and I automatically assumed the worst. I-I didn’t trust you, even though you never gave me a reason not to.”
“Why?” he asked again. It was quickly becoming his catchphrase of the evening.
“Why am I apologizing?”
“No.” He swallowed hard. “Why didn’t you trust me?” His voice broke at the end of the question. Clearly, he’d been torturing himself over the answer.
I was at a loss for words. The honest truth was that I didn’t have a good response to give him.
“Um, well…I may have overheard your conversation with Stella when we were at Oliver’s uncle’s place. I thought you were talking about me. That combined with your phone calls to Violet, and I just sort of figured…” My explanation was so terrible I couldn’t even finish it.
But then something amazing happened. Alec took an actual step in my direction. Now we were only two feet apart. Close enough to reach out and touch him, but still too far in all the important ways for me to actually do so. “Felicity, I would’ve told you anything you wanted to know. Why didn’t you ask me?”
He made it sound so easy, which felt a little unfair, especially coming from someone as reserved as him. Alec and I had clickedfrom the start, but that didn’t mean we’d settled into the ease of a long-term relationship, one where we were completely comfortable with each other. Nobody could let their guard down that quickly.
“I guess I was afraid,” I told him.
