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He rubs my shoulder comfortingly. “Hey. Don’t worry about it.”
The fact he’s the one comforting me after everything that happened somehow makes me feel a thousand times worse. I shake my head and try to speak, but my voice comes out in a pitiful whine.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He tilts his head and gives me a soft, sad smile. “You sure?”
I hesitate. If I could lie to him and make everything okay, I would. I’d do anything to take back what happened, to make things go back to how they were before this horrible night. But I can’t—and I owe him the truth since I was too much of a coward to tell him when I should have.
So I do the thing I should have done all along.
I tell him the truth.
Chapter 18
Pretty Girl Tears
“Noah…”Itakeadeep breath, squeezing my hands together. “What my father said was true, about him cutting me off, and he was right. It was the reason I invited you to the gala. I thought he would be angry, and let me have my trust fund back if I broke up with you.”
Saying it out loud makes it sound even uglier than when my dad said it. I can barely look him in the eyes. Part of me wishes he would stand up, pace, shout, throw accusations and insults at me, storm away. But he does none of those things. Instead, he gently slides his arm away from my shoulders. He sits, watching me, and listens in complete silence.
I continue painfully. “Ididintend to use you and throw you away, just like he said. I’m so ashamed to admit it. And I don’t feel that way now, but it doesn’t make it okay still. And I know I should have told you the truth. I should never have brought you here. I fucked up. I betrayed you and hurt you, and you don’t deserve it. You’re the last person in the world who deserves it.”
The tears flow freely down my cheeks now, but it’s getting easier to speak.
“You’re so kind and hard-working and patient and selfless and true to yourself. You’re like nobody I’ve ever met, and you’ve treated me better than any other man I’ve been with. I picked you because I thought my father would think you don’t deserve me, but in reality, it’smewho doesn’t deserveyou.”
He just watches me for a moment. Then he speaks in a dull voice. “Are you done?”
I stare at him, blinking tears. “Y—yes?”
“Alright.” He takes a deep breath, squeezing a fisted hand in the other. “I guess it’s my turn to confess, then.”
“What do you mean?”
He gives me a rueful smile. “I already knew all that, Seph. I knew why you got with me, why you invited me to the gala.”
The ground might as well have disappeared under my feet for how disoriented and bewildered I feel right now.
“How could you possibly know?”
“Your friend told me. Your friend with the black hair? She came to see me in the greenhouse.”
“Cammie?” My gut squirms, nausea rising in my stomach. “Cammie came to see you.”
“She was scared I might be a serial killer.” He shakes his head with a low, incredulous laugh. “She told me you were crazy rich, and that I better not harm a hair on your head, or your dad would have my balls cut off and my body thrown to the pigs.”
I stare at him, mouth wide open. He shrugs and sighs. “I told her not to worry and that I just fancy you. Then she… well, then she told me everything.” He meets my eyes. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think she was trying to be a dick. I just think she was scared one of us would get hurt. I guess she was right.”
Fresh tears roll down my face, my heart melting at his kindness—still—even in this moment, even for Cammie.
“Thenwhy?” My voice is a pathetic wail. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you still agree to come tonight? Why did you keep seeing me?”
He tilts my face up to his with a finger and dabs my tears with his shirt sleeve.
“Alright, easy with the tears, princess.” He shakes his head. “Because, you clueless girl, people don’t get together because theydeserveeach other. People get together because theylikeeach other. They stay together because they like being around each other. It’s as simple as that.”
“ButIlikeyou!” I protest, glaring at him. “That’s what I’m saying!”
