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“I’m not still pining after him,” I said as if it was an automatic response. I’d been denying my feelings for him for so long, it just came out.
“Fine. I hope that’s true,” she said like she didn’t believe me. “I just want what’s best for you and for Lily and all I’m saying is Kyle is not it. Understand?”
I nodded. Part of me knew she was right but another part of me was still denying I had feelings for him. But, as always, Krista was right. That part of me, that part of every girl that held on to her first love, would always have feelings for Kyle. Having sex with him did nothing to resolve my feelings, it only intensified them. And, if I was being totally honest with myself, I knew I was falling for him. I just didn’t want to stop it.
“Yes,” I said. “I understand, Krista.”
She smiled and hugged me before turning back to Dante.
I was in big, big trouble but I wanted Kyle too badly to care.
Chapter 17
Kyle
Istayedattheedges of the party, which is what I normally would’ve done, being polite when spoken to, being quiet and nearly out of sight when not. Krista was always the more social out of the two of us and being my birthday or a billionaire did nothing to change that for me.
Emma was doing a better job of acting like she wasn’t counting down the seconds until she could leave. Or maybe she wasn’t counting them down at all like I was.
The music was too loud and bad, the alcohol tasted watered down, which was a crime and a sin for the price I was paying, and the temperature was far too hot and humid, but Emma glowed. She moved ease around the dancing and drunk bodies, talking to all of Krista’s pockets of friends like she was personally friends with them all too.
Maybe she was.
I’d been far too absent from her life to know.
I made sure to stay out of Krista’s eyeline as I watched Emma tell her goodnight. I stood behind her, close enough to hear Emma but far enough away that my presence wasn’t felt.
“No,” Emma said. “I am having fun; it’s just I haven’t been out in so long and I’m ready to go home.”
“But we haven’t even had cake yet,” Krista said. “And I bought a really expensive one that cost so much money it better taste like literal heaven.”
Not that it mattered, but I absently wondered how much Krista spent on the damned party.
“It’s getting late,” Emma said. “Besides, I haven’t seen Kyle in a while. I think he left too.”
With that, I quickly ghosted the VIP area and ducked out behind the bouncer. I wasn’t sure if it was a good call or not to even mention me, but I figured it would look better for Krista to think I’d already left, when Emma was the one with a good excuse to want to go home.
I was just an asshole who hated parties.
I’d called my call service and was waiting for the limo I requested to pull up out front. I guessed a limo was probably overkill but fuck it. It was my birthday.
Feeling far more excited than a virgin on prom night, or so I imagined— I couldn’t be bothered with going to prom back in the day—I waited for Emma outside the club and hoped we were slick enough to pull this off.
Or maybe I didn’t care if we got caught. Maybe part of me wanted to. If forced, I had a hunch we’d both admit to having the same feelings for each other.
But then, there she was, coming out of the club like a breath of fresh air. She smiled when we locked eyes and I took her hand in mine.
“I don’t think she suspects a thing,” Emma said.
“Hopefully not,” I said, not sure if I even meant it anymore. “Our ride should be here any sec—”
Before I could finish, a black stretch limo rolled to stop right in front of us. The driver, a young kid wearing a baggy black suit and cap, hustled out of the driver’s seat to open the back door for us.
“Good evening, Mr. Beckford,” he said with a nod. “And happy birthday, sir.”
Henry was my man, my most trusted driver, but I liked this kid. I slipped a hundred into palm and then transferred it over to his. “Thank you,” I told him.
Emma climbed in first and slid in behind her, leaving no room for anything between us.
