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I walk down the corridor and see all of the family pictures I didn’t see downstairs. There are pictures of Remi with his siblings from when he was a toddler until what looks like a very recent picture. His twin sister looks nothing like him. She’s just as striking as he is. With the same hazelnut skin, dark loosely curled hair and keen eyes—but their faces are completely different. Tyson and Remi look more like twins than he and Regan.
I keep moving, admiring the pictures and then I get to the last one before the doors to the bedroom start. It’s their whole family. I gasp at the resemblance he bears to his father. He told me he was Irish. The only difference in their appearance is that Remi’s skin is darker and his eyes are not that startling blue. It’s like seeing what Remi will look like when he’s in his thirties.
Then, I hear Remi’s voice and stop cold. My heart plummets to my toes. I listen again, and I know my ears aren’t playing tricks on me. It’s coming from behind the door, but I would know that voice anywhere. He’s laughing, it’s loud and raucous.
Blood rushes in my ears and my eyes fill with tears. My whole body flashes hot and the cold. I wipe the tears that are flowing down my cheeks away and try to find something to hold on to. But I can’t and I lean against the wall across from the door. Remi’s voice, mingled with what sounds like dozens of others, taunts me.
I turn to look back down the long brightly lit hallway. Mrs. Wilde is still there. Smiling.
The horrible truth becomes clear.
This is why she invited us. She knows that Remi lied to me. She expects me to open the door and crumble. I look away from her. I won’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me broken. I look down at my feet. These shoes are fucking back luck.
My heart throbs like it’s caught in a vice. But, this is exactly what I expect from life. The only happy endings I’ve ever known are the imaginary ones I’ve written. I’ve always known, deep inside, that the legend I’d been spinning this summer would turn out to be the biggest lie of all. I’m going to confront him. Let him see that I know and that I don’t care.
With that resolve, I march back to the door. I put my hand on the knob and suddenly the threshold feels like the cliff edge of my fate.
My heart is caving in on itself. My courage fails me.
I can’t open that door. And I can live my whole life without seeing what’s on the other side. Sure, my imagination will run wild, but nothing I’ll imagine will be as bad as having the reality burned into my memories.
But, before I can turn and walk away, the choice is taken from me. The door flies open.
Loud music blares out into the hallway and standing at the door, dressed in a tuxedo, looking as handsome as the devil he is, is Remington Wilde. The boy who I let be my first. The boy who made me think he was falling in love with me the way I was falling in love with him. I want to punch his fucking lights out for ruining this.
He looks like he’s going to throw up.
“Kal.” His voice breaks at the end of my name and I want to cry.
“I’m leaving,” I say stiffly. I’m fighting with everything I have not to give him one more piece of myself. My heart’s not ready for this, I have no idea how to handle the waves of pain that are starting to radiate through me. I hold his eyes, the panic in them a weird sort of harness on my own. I start to back away.
“Kal, no. Please, let me explain,” he begs, his arms
out to grab a hold of me.
Then, the nail in our coffin appears behind him.
“Remi, you’re the worst date ever. I’m waiti—” Joni’s words and smile die simultaneously when she sees me standing there.
“Oh, it’s you.” She squeezes herself next to Remi in the doorway. They stand there, both looking down at me. If my chest didn’t feel like someone was standing on it already, the smug satisfaction on her face hits me like a freight train.
I suck in a fortifying breath. “I’m leaving. It’s okay.”
“Don’t leave, please—” Remi reaches for me, I lurch away from his outstretched hand. My heel catches in the loops of the edge of the rug in the center of the hall and I flail for a second before I fall and land with a painful thud on my backside.
I glare at my feet and the fucking shoes on them. I start to unstrap them from my ankles. My trembling fingers make the task difficult.
Remi crouches in front of me.
“Leave me the fuck alone, Remi,” I hiss. I pull the left shoe off and then start on the strap of the right one.
“I’ll wait for you inside,” Joni says quietly, and her hand rests possessively on Remi’s shoulder before she disappears.
Now, I want to throw up. I glare at him, let him see for a moment, just how badly he’s hurt me.
He blinks and swallows hard. “Kal. This is not what it looks like. Please, please let me explain.” His hands cover mine and a wave of cold washes over me. I shudder and gasp.
“Do not touch me.” I’m trembling, my heart thunders in my ears.
