His face is serious as he holds my gaze.
“It’s a big deal to me, Lexie,” he says again. “It’s a big deal that you believed in me. And that you did this for me, without expecting anything in return. No one ever does that for me. No one does things for me without expecting something back. But you did. And you didn’t even tell me, so you could take the credit for it. So thank you.”
Okay, now he’s making me blush.
“You’re welcome,” I reply, a little more stiffly than I intended. “But…”
“But what? Tell me?”
“I did it because I believed in you,” I say, my fingers twisting nervously at the fringe on the blanket that’s lying on my bed. “You’re right about that. But you didn’t believe in me, did you? When you found out someone had leaked the story about our… our arrangement… you assumed it was me? I don’t know how you could have thought that. I don’t know why you couldn’t trust me.”
“I thought it was probably your mom, actually,” he says, shamefaced. “But yeah, I assumed she’d have gotten it from you. That you’d told her what was going on, even though I’d asked you not to. And I was wrong. I know that now.”
“How, though?” I stop playing with the blanket to look up at him, my eyes full of tears that I’m absolutely determined not to shed. “How do you know? What changed in the last…” I glance at my watch. I have no idea how long it’s been since that morning at the airport. I just know it feels like forever, and yesterday, both at the same time. “The last… however long it’s been.”
Jett’s hand comes up to rub at his eyes again. Before he can answer, though, there’s a loud pinging noise from the phone in his pocket, and he pulls it out, glances at it and frowns, before putting it away again.
“Scarlett,” he says, looking back at me. “Scarlett somehow managed to get a hold of Asher’s number, and she kept on calling until she finally got through to Grace. She told her it wasn’t you — or your mom, for that matter — who leaked the story. But it didn’t matter by that point, because I already knew.”
“But… how?”
“I just did.” It’s his turn to shrug now. “It wasn’t because I’d seen the video by that point, or because of Scarlett. I just knew. I think I always knew you wouldn’t do that. I just couldn’t admit it to myself. Telling myself you’d betrayed me—” He grins. “Sorry. That’s such a dramatic word, but it’s how I felt. Telling myself you’d ‘betrayed’ me; that you’d just been in it for the money, or the fame, or whatever.” He trails off. “Well, it was easier than admitting the truth,” he says at last, not looking at me.
“And what’s that? What’s the truth, Jett?’
“That I had completely and utterly fallen for you. And I was absolutely terrified by it, because I didn’t know if you felt the same.”
He says this so matter-of-factly that it takes a moment for the words to sink in, and, when they do, it takes my whirring brain another few moments to work out how to respond.
Did he really just say he’d fallen for me? And, more importantly, did he mean it?
“How could you have not known, though?” I manage at last. “How could you not have noticed I felt the same?”
Jett’s smile lights up his entire face.
“You did?” he asks shyly.
“Of course I did, idiot!” I resit the impulse to pick up a pillow and throw it at him. “Howdid you not know?”
“Because you’re always so… spiky, I guess,” he sighs. “Like you’re determined not to let anyone get close to you because you’re scared they’re going to hurt you. Which is understandable,” he adds hastily, seeing the look on my face. “But it’s just… you’re not like anyone else I know, Lexie. Or anyone I’ve ever met. You never wanted to kiss me, or even be seen with me, really. And when you found out you were going to have to sleep in the same bed as me, you were so horrified. It was like it was your worst nightmare or something.”
“I was horrified because I was crazy about you,” I blurt, not caring anymore how stupid I must sound. “And I was worried I’d make a complete fool of myself by making it totally obvious when you just weren’t into me. Can you imagine having to spend the entire night lying next to someone you’ve got the hots for, but who doesn’t want to know? It’s like a form of torture.”
“I don’t have to imagine it, Lexie,” he says seriously. “That’s what I was doing too, remember?”
“You fell asleep,” I almost shriek. “How can you say you had the hots for me when I wasright there—”
“—in your little Heather Bay t-shirt,” he interjects. “I liked that a lot. Didn’t I say that at the time? I thought I said that?”
“You said it to make fun of me,” I insist. “Then you fell asleep.”
Jett’s phone pings again, and this time when he glances at the screen, he doesn’t bother to put it back in his pocket.
“I wasn’t sleeping,” he says, returning his attention to me. “I was just pretending. I was trying to be a gentleman, like you said. Let you take the lead, and give me some kind of… I don’t know, some kind of sign that you wanted more. But you didn’t.”
He gives me his dejected puppy look, and I’m not sure whether I want to laugh at him or kiss him.
No, scratch that. I want to kiss him. Idefinitelywant to kiss him.
