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“Hi. Congratulations.”
“You saw?”
Drew nodded, pride emanating from every pore.
“Thank you.” I let out a deep exhale. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense, though. I thought he was going with you.”
“That wasn’t going to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Because you deserved it more. And…because I would’ve taken myself out of the running.”
My lips parted in surprise. “You…what?”
“I realized there’s something more important to me than the company and getting ahead.”
“Like…?”
“Like you.”
As the implication hit me, I couldn’t let it go.
“Drew, tell me I didn’t get the job by default. Tell me you didn’t back down to give me the deal.”
“I didn’tgiveyou anything. I swear. Did I go to Viper with the intention of taking E Group out of the running? Yes. But I didn’t. I didn’t have to. Viper had already made his choice by the time I got there, and he chose you, Hudson. There’s no one who deserves it more.”
“Jesus, Drew. Why would you even think to do something like that?”
“Because I wanted to make things right with us. You and me. I didn’t know how else to show you how important you are to me, how important you’ve always been. I know it probably doesn’t make any sense to you, but it was the only way I could think of to prove to you that I’ll never put anything above you. Not ever again.”
“Fuck.” I began to pace, gripping the back of my neck.
My first instinct was to feel insulted by what Drew had been planning, to take it as a slap in the face that he would’ve even tried to give up something he wanted in order to let me just have it.
But I’d already made a knee-jerk decision once. It would be a mistake to do it again.
Taking a beat, I looked at him, really looked at him, and when I saw the sincerity there, I got it. I understood what he was saying. The guilt riding Drew had been so strong that he thought he couldn’t get over it unless he evened the score somehow.
Did I want to win anything that way? Hell no.
But again, I could understand it. This had been his way of starting over fresh, without the baggage that had weighed us down. It was a peace offering. Both for himself and for us.
That wasn’t the way I wanted to win, though.
I stopped pacing and dropped my arm by my side. “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
“Well, you could ask Viper. Or you could choose to trust me.” Drew gave a small shrug. “It’s a thing I’ve heard couples do that I thought we should try.”
My heart skipped a beat or two, and when I didn’t respond, Drew continued.
“I want you, H,” he said, his voice confident and strong. “I told you I wanted it all with you. And if you’ll give me a chance, I’ll spend the rest of our lives together making it up to you.”
“No, you won’t,” I said. When a stricken look crossed his face, I held up a hand. “You don’t need to make anything up to me, Drew. You already have. And I don’t want you giving anything up to be with me either. That’s not the way this is gonna go.”
“It’s not?”
“No.”
