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Besides Pierre, of course.
The begging stopped, and I felt a presence beside me, as if the person had sat down next to me against the wall. For a moment, everything was quiet. I breathed. One breath in, one out. I counted them coming and going, slowly, slowly.
And, finally, looked.
“Hey,” Felix said, cracking a small smile. “It’s good to see you.”
Closing my eyes again, I took in another couple of deep breaths before opening them again. He was still there, more than a figment of my imagination. His brown gaze was soft, allowing me sink into them like a cushion. I didn’t need his arms around me, I didn’t need his embrace to console me. I just needed to look into him, to see him there, to know I wasn’t alone.
Instead of saying anything, he leaned his head back against the tiled wall, maintaining eye contact with me. I found myself doing the same.
A moment later, we both found ourselves giggling.
“Fuck,” I finally said, my voice coming out raspy from all the internal whimpering and swallowing teary mucus. “I mean, how the fuck did you get here?”
I still couldn’t believe that he was here. When I had said goodbye to him and Leo, he hadn’t given any hints to make me believe he was planning to make the trip as well. Maybe Elliot had sent him. I snorted at the thought.
Right. As if Elliot had some sort of telepathic sense that told him when his “girlfriend” was in danger so that he could teleport his henchmen to come to the rescue at a moment’s notice. Wouldn’t that be nice.
And yet, that was the only reason I could see for why he would be here.
“My dad wanted to see me,” he replied, shrugging, his gaze shifting away from me. For someone who used to be the prince of a suburban high school, he was weirdly shy. I guess they all were when it came to matters of their private life. “Honestly, I don’t really know why I’m here. He didn’t tell me, exactly. Something to do with the business.”
“Huh,” was all I could manage. He seemed to pick up on my weariness, because he focused his eyes back on me.
Again, he waited, as if he knew there was more I wanted to say. Of course, there was so much I wanted to say, even more I wanted to ask, but I was too tired.
“Hey,” he said, standing up. He stretched his hands down to me. “Where are you staying? I can bring you back.”
Shaking my head, I took his hands in mine and he hoisted me up to my feet. “No, it’s fine. I should stay here.”
I expected him to ask why, but to my surprise, he simply nodded in understanding. Maybe he’d heard about what happened. Without a word, he guided me out the door, his hand gently holding mine.
“How’d you know I was here?” I asked, wiping my nose with the sleeve of my coat, while trying to hide the worn-out tone of my voice. “And how’d you know I was in the…”
“I saw you and that girl walking into the building,” he replied, guiding me toward the glass doors. We exited the building, and the cold autumn air hit us in a single blast. It caused me to press myself closer against him. “I was across the quad. To be honest, I didn’t know you would be here, but I had a few hours to kill before I had to meet my dad at the restaurant. I figured you and Pierre might be here.”
We stopped on the sidewalk, and I turned my head to look at his face. “Me and Pierre?”
Did he want to see Pierre?
Felix shrugged, keeping his eyes ahead. “I mean, I doubt he’d want to see me, of course,” he started, as if he was reading my mind. “Anyway. Did you use the gift card?”
I nodded.
“Yeah,” I replied, still bewildered that he didn’t mind the idea of seeing me and Pierre together. Elliot and Leo could act as tough as they wanted, but I knew they didn’t have the guts to face my best friend. Elliot, especially. Not after what they did to him.
It’s like they knew Pierre would never forgive them.
“We went to dinner there last night,” I continued, still looking at him, trying to read into his expression. “It was probably the best meal I’ve ever had. So, thank you, again.”
He still avoided looking into my eyes, and all I could do was study his smooth, freckled skin, the curve of his dark eyebrows. His hair had gotten a little longer over the summer, and I was just now noticing how his tawny curls had been slightly bleached on the bottom half of his head. It was a good look for him.
Without thinking, I reached up to stroke it. That finally caused him to jolt his gaze to mine.
“I mean it,” I said, now that I had his full attention. “I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t…”
He shook his head. “Yeah.”
