Page 187 of Glitched Play

I stop immediately, not because I want to, but because she's asked me to.

"I need to understand."

She laughs through tears. "I understood."

My head shakes once. “Whatever you think you understand isn’t true.”

Silence stretches between us.

Finally, she whispers, "Then tell me why Dara found me an apartment."

I close my eyes. "Dara."

One word.

One mistake.

One instruction I never realized I hadn't given.

"I told her months ago to help you find an apartment." I run my fingers through my hair and drop them just as quickly. “I… just never told her to stop the search.”

Her face crumples. "So it was true."

"No." I take another careful step. "I never thought about it again after the gala. We kissed and… I didn’t know how to handle it. I just never told her to stop looking."

"I understand. This is your home.”

I don’t let her say another word. "It’s our home, Maci."

Maci’s shoulders relax a fraction. "I assumed... you changed your mind."

Fresh tears spill down her cheeks.

"You assumed."

"Yes."

She lets out a shaky laugh. "You tell everyone exactly what needs to be done… you juggle four companies under Synatrix. Yes, I assumed you had me on a list. Witt, you schedule meetings down to the minute. But somehow… you forgot to tell your assistant to call off the search?"

I nod.

"Yes, that was my mistake and I’m sorry. I’ve been so happy. I just hadn’t thought of you leaving.”

She studies my face, looking for the lie, but there isn’t one.

"I thought..." She swallows. "I thought you were too nice to tell me."

I don't ask permission, instead I open my arms. "If you can’t trust me anymore, it’ll tear me in two… but if you’ll still have me, you’re the only one I want.”

For one terrible second, nothing.

Then she breaks and crashes into me so hard I almost lose my balance.

My arms close around her automatically as she sobs into my shirt.

"I'm sorry,” she chokes out between tears.

"No."