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“Things are different now, Dad.” Blake’s voice is chilly.
He walks out of the office without another word. I turn to my father. I’ve been alone with him a million times, always feeling his expectation for me to be his perfectly subdued little girl.
The lack of that pressure feels freeing. It’s the most reassuring and exciting thing I’ve ever felt in all my life.
“Please understand that there’s no way I will agree to marry Theodore Furman.” Given the argument that just ensued, there might be no need to say that out loud, but he should hear it spelled out, to clear away any doubt that might be lurking in his head.
He sighs, weariness on his face. “I know,” he starts, hiswords heavy as lead. “But you’ve got to understand something. I love Alex. He practically grew up with you guys. He had nowhere else to go, and we became his makeshift family. And I was happy to have him around. Yet, he is fighting his own demons, and I don’t want you to be the one who has to confront them with him. Everything I said about Alex Steinman remains true, regardless of whether you choose to be with Theodore.”
He brushes past me and opens the door. In seconds, he’s out as well, leaving me alone.
I close my eyes and sink onto the sofa.
Everything I said about Alex Steinman is true.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what he means.
My father thinks there’s a chance I’m falling for Alex, and that it’s one of the main reasons I’m not even willing to consider Theodore.
Thirty seconds ago, I’d broken my silence and spoke back to my father for the first time in twenty-four years. I’d known he wanted me to marry Theo for months and said nothing. But I’d finally stood up for myself.
It almost hurts me to admit it, but maybe he is not completely wrong.
Maybe I am falling for Alex Steinman, the world-renowned playboy. And now, even if everyone outside the Philly Flyers team thinks he’s a changed man, I know better.
This is all a game.
And like the most stupid person on the planet, I’d let myself fall for him, just like a million other girls had done in the past.
I am in big trouble.
CHAPTER 18
ALEX
“I’m sorry.”
I raise my brows. If I wasn’t so used to Blake’s voice that I could pick it up among a thousand other people, I would have doubted that he was the person on the other end of the line.
But it is Blake White. And he is apologizing.
“Really,” he repeats. “I’m sorry.”
I tuck my phone between my shoulder and my ear, more curious than anything. “What do you have to be sorry about?”
He lets out a sigh. “Everything,” he says. “For giving you the cold shoulder. For not believing you when you said you had nothing to do with the kiss. For not believing that you would never hurt my sister.”
I feel a guilty jerk in the pit of my stomach. I recall myself thrusting into Britney in front of the mirror. And the tender moments we shared back in my hotel room, which seemed a worse betrayal than the sex.
Maybe later in the future, when all of this has passed and I’d forgotten what it felt like to lust after Britney, I could tellBlake the truth. Right now, though, I can’t afford to pull another brick out of our collapsing friendship.
The only problem is that I cannot for the life of me imagine a future where I no longer want Brit.
Still, I force myself to focus on what Blake’s apology signifies. “Found out about your dad’s plan?”
He lets out another sigh. “Yes,” he admits. “And everything is starting to make sense. Skunkface Theo flirting with my sister and trying hard to get her attention back in California, my sister wanting the fake relationship with you . . . and the fact that she threw herself at you.”
I nod, even though he cannot see me. “What does this mean? You finding out?”
