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“Reid? I know you are there.”
He bowed his head and waited for her to leave.
“Will you stand behind the door, a coward, refusing to see me?”
She knew precisely how to goad him.
“I am no coward, Allie.”
“Then what do you call it?”
“Love,” he said, believing his own words. “I call it love,” he whispered to no one. And because he loved her, he knew she deserved better.
After a moment of silence, he thought she’d left. But not his Allie. She would not be deterred so easily.
“Gillian despises you,” she said, as if that would appease him. “She believes you to be a man who cares only for base pleasures and his own happiness.”
He wished he could disagree.
“And Juliette thinks you are a good man who’s yet to find his way. She believes we belong together.”
He’d always liked that woman.
“Do you know what else she told me?”
Reid pressed his palm on the door as if he could reach through it to the other side.
“She told me that none of it mattered. That only my feelings for you are important.”
His heart skipped a beat.
“And I love you, Reid. Do you hear me?”
Shaking his head, knowing he would regret it, Reid turned the key and opened the door. He stepped aside and opened it.
Her eyes implored him to love her. And he did. Which was why he had to let her go.
“You do not understand,” he began, prepared to give her the speech he’d practiced all evening.
“Nay,” she said, pushing her way into the room. She closed the door behind them before he could stop her. “It is you who does not understand. While you sit here brooding, I am forced to watch as you present your worst self to the world, over and over again.”
He wanted to touch her. Hold her.
“I have no choice—”
“You always have a choice.” She reached up and held his face in her hands. Branded by the tender touch, he was not strong enough to force her hands away. “And you are choosing to allow the pretense you’ve so carefully cultivated ruin everything.”
“There is no pretense—”
“Aye, there is. You pretend you would rather not stand by your brother’s side because you fear they will reject you. You hurl insults rather than allow yourself to be vulnerable.”
“Allie—”
“Nay, Reid. ’Tis my turn to talk.”
She dropped her hands but did not move away.
“I understand what it is like to be treated like a child even when you are no longer one. Or how much easier it must be to gain notice by acting out in the way you are accustomed rather than attempting to compete with your older brothers.”
