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For a few long seconds, you could hear a pin drop.
“Dinner,” said Tyler.
“Yes.”
Luca squinted. “Why?”
“So he can convince me to come back to him.”
The guys shifted uncomfortably for a moment. When I glanced up again they were staring back at me blankly, in total silence.
“Obviously I wouldnever!”I said quickly. “C’mon. That goes without saying!”
“Then why would he bother?”
“Because hethinkshe can convince me,” I explained. “Again, Elijah’s used to everyone yes-ing him to death. If he can sit down with me face to face, he still believes he can bullshit me with the same old lies he’s always told. That somehow I’ll buy into them again.”
“So he had you snowed before, huh?” asked Tyler.
I shook my head angrily. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”
I could see the fury in their eyes, sense the vengeance in their hearts. It wasn’t because my ex had closed their restaurant, or halted the construction on the house. No, it was more protective than that. More personal.
It was all because of what Elijah had done tome.
“I was so naive back then,” I sighed. “So stupid. But what Elijah doesn’t realize is just how much things have changed. He couldn’t get me back if we were the last two people on Earth. I wouldn’t take his hand if I were dangling from a cliff, about to fall into a live volcano. I’d rather sink into the goddamn lava.”
“Soshecan make Terminator references but I can’t?” Jay cried.
The dirty looks from the others were scathing this time. Reluctantly, Jay shut up.
“Let me have dinner with him,” I said again. “Let him understand the truth for himself, and there’s a chance he’ll go away.”
“And how would he understand the truth?” asked Tyler.
“Because I’ll open my heart,” I said. “I’ll let himsee.”
Luca shook his head and frowned. “That asshole’s the type of person who only sees what he wants to see.”
“I know,” I agreed. “But my heart is obviously somewhere else. A blind person could see that. Elijah might deny it outwardly, but beneath the surface it’ll eventually sink in. All he needs to do is see it for himself.”
They shook their heads, grunting some more. It was obvious they didn’t agree. I couldn’t expect them to.
“And whereisyour heart?” asked Tyler, after a measure of silence.
I stared back at them all, one by one, shifting from Luca and Jay’s defiant stare to Tyler’s fierce blue eyes. There was depth and understanding in their gaze. Zero blame. But also something else:
My own love, reflected back at me threefold.
“My heart is where it’s always been,” I answered softly. Slowly I reached out, brushing their fingers. Taking their palms, I brought them together with mine.
“In these hands,” I smiled gently.
Forty-Three
JENNA
It was a hard thing, following the guys’ advice. And that’s because, over the next few days at least, their advice to me was to not do anything at all.
