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“In fact, we’ve barely talked this whole trip.”
“Well –”
“You’ve been so preoccupied with your new girlfriend you’ve barely spent any time with me.”
I blink. “Adelaide, we haven’t spoken in two years.”
She touches my arm. “Then we have a lot of catching up to do.”
I glance at Theo beside her. He’s caught up in conversation with his bros. Not paying a speck of attention to what his new fiancé might be doing. I always wondered what she saw in him, but now that I’ve met him, I wonder what he sees in her, other than her obvious exterior beauty. He’s goofy and friendly, and doesn’t take things too seriously. Adelaide always has a bee in her bonnet. It definitely seems to be a case of opposites attract.
Makes me wonder what I ever saw in her.
“I thought you’d be excited to see me,” Adelaide says softly. For once, she sounds like a human.
I clear my throat. “I was. I am.”
“Don’t lie.”
We exchange a look. Her usual posturing has been dropped; I can see the girl that I knew. Far away, but still, she’s there. Her pretty green eyes needing reassurance, and her hand desperately needing to be held.
No, Flynn. It’s not real.I have the real thing. She’s only a few seats away. I won’t be tempted by the empty joy of Adelaide Frazer.
“You know why I brought you here, don’t you? Don’t you get it yet?”
I furrow my brow in bewilderment. “Huh?”
Adelaide sighs, eyes rolling toward her fiancé and then back to me. “Don’t you see how ridiculous this is?” she whispers. “Me and him?”
She’s bold to speak about this while he’s sitting right next to her. And what the fuck is going on right now?
“Besides, he’s not even that good of a football player.”
I shake my head. Nothing is making sense. This isn’t adding up. “You left me for him, Adelaide.”
“I know I did,” she says carefully.
“And you didn’t speak to me for two years.”
“Because you never tried, Flynn. I was waiting for you to be a man and –“
No.I will not allow her to sit here and tell me whatIshould have done to fix my broken heart. I will not be told I had an opportunity to have her back if only I’d grown a pair. Because I had thought about it. Time after time. Colin told me not to. Hell, Stella told me not to a couple of times when I needed a little extra reassurance, and she was able to put our rivalry aside.
But now that Adelaide is telling me things might have been different if I had fought for her… begged, maybe.
My head is spinning.
“Flynn, baby –” Adelaide grabs my wrist.
I yank it away and stand up in a rush. My chair scrapes the floor loudly, garnering the attention of everyone at the table. I can feel Stella’s eyes on me. She’s obviously worried.
I don’t deserve her.
“I… um…”Deep breath. “Bathroom,” I say, and then skitter away from the group.
I don’t know where the fuck I’m going as I weave in and out of servers and guests of the flouncy Venetian restaurant. I’m sure I hear my name called out a few times, “Mr. Madden, may I help you?”
But no one can help me. Not right now.
