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We’d been halfway to my parents’ house before Louis asked the question I’d been dreading. “Where’s Silas?”
I’d tapped my fingers on the door of the car. “Don’t know. We…we had an argument.”
Louis’s expression had been comical. “What? You guys don’t fight. What happened?”
I’d shrugged, not wanting to get into it. Louis would’ve probably hauled me over the coals if he heard how I’d flung Si’s confession back in his face. Rightly so, but I’d done enough self-flagellating to want any from him.
“Will he be there tonight?”
Hope had bubbled through my veins. “I…I don’t know. I’m not sure.”
Louis had stared out the windscreen, his lips pursed. “He won’t miss it. It’s Dad.”
Fuck, I’d prayed he was right. Having to explain to my parents why Silas wasn’t there was a conversation I’d rather avoid.
Hey, Silas finally made all my dreams come true. Instead of kissing him, I threw it back in his face. If I can’t fix this, we might not see him for a while.
Giving Dad a heart attack was not what I had in mind for his birthday.
We’d pulled up to the house, and what I saw there had me suddenly praying Silas didn’t put in an appearance.
“You invited your boyfriend?” Louis had scowled through the windshield at Tristan leaning against the wall.
“It’s complicated,” I’d muttered, getting out of the car and heading over to greet him. I’d forgotten I’d invited him. It’d been before that fateful night in the club, when I’d still wanted him as a barrier between Si and me.
But now the cage around my heart had been unlocked, and Tristan being here was no longer what I needed.
I could hardly tell him to go, not without explaining everything that had happened. But before I could do that, the front door had opened, my family spilling out to greet my supposed boyfriend.
That was how I’d found myself sat at the same kitchen table from my youth, my fake boyfriend beside me. The house might’ve changed, but this piece of furniture had followed them.
My parents’ home was my first big purchase when the money began pouring in. But I hadn’t bought it alone.
No, Silas had insisted on contributing half. Whether that was because he wanted to repay them for all their kindness over the years or because he saw them as his own parents…I wasn’t sure. But he’d wanted to do it. Said it would make him happy.
Of course I’d let him.
This seven-bedroom detached house was a long way from the one we’d grown up in on the estate. With all my siblings moved out, my parents didn’tneedthis much space. But Si and I wanted them to have it. One of the most important things to all of us was family. We wanted them to have somewhere we could all stay whenever they wanted us to.
But now, I was sat here with someone else. Every time I glimpsed Tristan from the corner of my eye, I flinched in surprise.
I was so used to Si being there. Si being the one at my side.
What if he never was again?
The second Silas walked in on Ruby’s arm, I’d felt complete. The raging ocean of uncertainty and despair roaring through me had calmed at the sight of him.
And fuck, had he looked good. He’d worn that shirt again, the one I’d bought him for Christmas. The jeans he’d paired with them had me shifting under the table, trying desperately to control myself.
I’d been about to go up to him. To pull him into my grip and hold him until he understood I never wanted to let him go.
But then his eyes had slid to Tristan. I had watched as they widened in shock. As his lips thinned.
As his heart cracked.
And I’d hated myself all over again.
Any doubt I’d been harbouring over whether Silas truly had feelings for me evaporated. I’d never seen that look on his face. Like I’d cut open his chest and revealed his bleeding heart to everyone.
