“Happy?” I huff, flopping back in my seat.
“Very much so. Now, as?—”
“Wait.” I hold up a hand like I’m stopping traffic. If we’re going to do this, I need to get something off my chest first.
He slides in beside me, close enough that our knees almost touch. “Sure thing, Alex. What is it?”
I swallow down my annoyance and brace myself.
“About last night,” I stutter, forcing myself to look away from his patchy gray eyes. They’re making me nervous—like staring out an airplane window just before you hit turbulence. Where the sky looks dark and unsettled.
I blink the image away and push forward.
“I… um. I’m sorry for what I did to Elijah. In front of you.” The words taste bitter going down. “It was in poor taste, and I’m really embarrassed by my actions.”
There. I said it.
“You mean fucking him?”
“Yeah, that,” I say quietly, eyes following his hand as it moves to rest gently on my thigh, halting my nervous fidgeting.
“Alex… I loved watching you fuck Elijah.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake. This isn’t the time to befuckingwith me!”
My patience snaps like a rubber band.
“No?” His lips twitch, something between a smirk and a smile. “Then tell me… whenwouldbe the right time for me to fuck with you? Because I have to admit, I’ve been looking forward to fucking you for a while.”
I’ve got nothing. Not a damn thing.
He shakes out his hair, then drags a hand down his face, dragging the smirk off with it.
“Sorry,” he says—and it actually sounds sincere. He exhales, long and slow, then pushes his hair back again. “Elijah and I saw the news. Damn, Alex… what were you thinking?” His voice drops, worry bleeding into it. “We told you to stay away from your building. Not with the paparazzi camped out in front like that. They’re vultures. We were scared for you and the girls.”
Whether it’s deliberate or not, he keeps referring to him and Elijah as a couple, and it’s getting under my skin.
“Elijah insisted on coming to your rescue, but I wouldn’t let him. I couldn’t let him leave in his state.”
I lift my head. “His state?”
“He’d been crying, Alex. A lot. More than I’ve ever seen.”
There’s sadness buried in his voice, quiet but heavy, and it stirs something deep in my stomach. Nausea rises like a tide, and I reach for the door. But his hand finds my elbow before I can escape.
“Alex, he loves you.”
His words hit like a freight train.
Please don’t do this.
My heart kicks up, faster and faster, until it steals the breath right out of my lungs.
Damn it, I need air.
But instead of fighting for it, I fall back in my seat and start counting. Because, deep down, I know… it’s not air I actually need.
It’s Elijah.
