Walker’s hand tightens against her hip, like he’s reluctant to let her out of his sight. “You sound like one of those guys on dating shows,” she snarks.
“Trust me, I’m not trying to court you.”
“In your fucking dreams.” But Scar steps out of his embrace.
Walker shoots me a warning look.Don’t fuck this up.
I won’t.
We step outside onto the large patio. It’s mostly just grass and weeds right now, as Hayden said they’ve been too focused on making the inside perfect that they haven’t touched the exterior of the house yet.
Scar shoves her hands in the pocket of her hoodie. It looks ridiculously big on her, but when I take a closer look, I realize it’s Walker’s.
Something about that brings me an odd sense of relief.
“Well?” Scar asks, looking at me expectantly. Her impatience grates against my nerves, but I keep a reign on it.
“I’m sure you’re aware that Walker and I met up awhile ago to talk.” She nods stiffly, and I wonder if she knows what Walker told me. But now’s not the time to bring that up. “I told him I wanted to be able to apologize to you someday, face to face.”
She cocks her head, long hair flowing in the breeze. “And?”
God, she’s…I clench my teeth. “And I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I should’ve never leaked shit to the press about you, or added fuel to the fire when things started coming out. It was wrong and I’m not going to try to justify it to you but I…I was just trying to watch out for Walker.”
“By dragging his girlfriend’s name through the dirt?”
“It’s more complicated than that.”
She hums. “Complicated…of course.”
Scar and I were never close. The entire time we were on tour together, we barely exchanged more than a handful of words.
It wasn’t until I admitted to my part in leaking information about her online that we had our one and onlyconfrontation. Since then, it’s been terse nods and silent cordial cues.
“Look, it’s my fault we never had an opportunity to get to know each other,” I admit. “I was too bitter toward the guys coming off the break that I didn’t want anything to do with anyone.”
“I could tell.”
“But for the sake of my relationship with Walker, and out of respect for his relationship with you, I wanted you to know that I’m sorry. I took some shit out on you that wasn’t fair, and it was wrong.”
She blinks expectantly.
“Iwas wrong,” I clarify.
A satisfied gleam sparks in her eye, the first real hint of emotion I’ve seen from her this whole time. She’s just wanting to hear me say it. What, is she gonna ask me to beg next?
We all might as well just go our separate ways now?—
“Listen, I was prepared to move past it as soon as Walker did,” she finally says. “Before you guys broke up and we all had that dinner at Nikolai’s house, I told Walker heading into that night that if he wanted to work things out with you, I’d support him. I’d let it go.”
“You still feel that way?”
She looks over at the open patio door, inside to my best friend. There’s a softness that overtakes the hardness in her face as she watches him. I wonder if that’s how I look when I look at Penny. “Yes. For his sake, it’s already done.”
A pang in my chest eases. “Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you.”
“I know. Just like how I didn’t apologize for your benefit.”
