“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing? He is your family, Derek.”
“I didn’t expect him to…” Shaking his head, he drops my hand and gets to his feet, moving to the window so his back is to me. “I thought if he took the position, it would be good for both of you, but you weren’t supposed to fall for each other.”
“‘Supposed to’?” I repeat, frowning at him. “Derek, you could not have predicted our feelings.”
“Exactly the problem,” he mutters. “Now you’re in a mess I don’t know how to get you out of.”
I stand, not sure if I am angry or confused or simply frustrated by the way he tries to control everything. He has seen enough life to know that that is not how things work. Elliot figured it out, so why can’t Derek?
“Listen to me, Derek Riley Reid,” I say firmly.
He spins around, his blue eyes wide and his mouth open, in what might be the first time I have caught him off guard. “What? How did you…?”
I roll my eyes. “ElliotReidis your cousin on your father’s side, and you despise lying, so the name Riley had to come from somewhere.”
His hand moves to his hair again in the same anxious movement as before. “Right.”
Moving slowly, I step toward him until we are only a foot apart, and he looks down at me like a cornered animal. I have never seen Derek so uncertain, so I hope he will listen to me as I say, “Nothing in my life right now is your fault.”
“But—”
“I am talking, Derek.” Glaring, I hold up a hand as he clenches his mouth shut. “Nothingis your fault. Yes, I haveHot Scoop’s interest because I am your friend. Yes, you introduced Elliot into my life. But you do not write the tabloids. You did not cause my heart to want him. That, unfortunately, was all Elliot, though I can hardly fault him for being the best of men.”
The air slides from Derek’s lungs in a slow exhale, and he dips his chin, lacking his usual calm confidence. “So, are your feelings for my cousin your only good reason to turn down Grimstad?” he asks quietly.
“I never said it was a good reason,” I say, just as soft. “Elliot and I can never be anything more than what we are now.”
He looks up. “Why not?”
“Candora forbids it.”
He opens his mouth, likely with a hundred questions, but his phone takes his attention as he pulls it from his pocket. He quickly readswhatever message he received, then taps on something, his brow furrowing deeper with every passing second as his eyes jump across the screen. Just as I am about to ask him if everything is okay, he turns an alarming shade of white.
“Derek!” I grab his arm, but he doesn’t take his eyes from his phone.
“Where’s Elliot?”
“Why?”
“Where is he, Freya?”
A jolt of fear shoots through me at the urgency in his voice, and I step back once. “What is happening, Derek?”
Finally looking up, he stares at me for a long few seconds like I might have the answer to a question he doesn’t want to ask. “Freya,” he all but begs.
“He is supposed to be resting, though whether he has listened remains to be seen.”
My words seem to pull Derek from whatever he was lost in, shifting his expression from fear to confusion. “Resting?” he repeats, almost instantly turning to panic as he curses under his breath. “Freya, was Elliot…” He curses again, this time losing the hat entirely as he runs a hand through his hair. “Why did no one tell me he was wounded?”
I can’t decide if he is overreacting or if something is seriously wrong, but more than anything I hate that Derek has shut me out. “Because the two of you are cut from the same cloth,” I grumble.Too proud to be vulnerable.
Derek’s eyes flash with fire. “What do you mean?”
Why does he seem afraid of my answer? I take a step closer, narrowing my eyes when he takes a step back. “Because your cousin is very much like you,” I say slowly. “Derek, what—”
“Have you read this?” he asks, holding up his phone.
I recognizeHot Scoop’s website, but the headline is unfamiliar. “I haven’t been on the internet any more than you have because I am not keen to relive the debate. Should I have read it?”
