“Do you think maybe you could ever forgive me?” I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
She watched me thoughtfully for a while, before she seemed to come to a decision. “What you did really hurt me. But we’ve been friends forever, and it would be a shame to throw that away because of a guy. So, if you want to keep in touch while you’re away, I promise to answer the phone if you call. How does that sound?”
Relief filled my chest until I thought my ribs might crack. “It sounds great.”
“Okay.” She nodded once. “I can do that.”
I wasn’t sure if I should leave, while I was still in front. But as I got ready to force myself out of the chair, she spoke again.
Her words were quiet, curious. “You loved Lawrence the same way I loved him. Didn’t you?”
I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself, especially when I believed he’d cost me my friendship with Gabi, but the ache in my chest night after night, the way I missed him in all the ways I missed her… finally, I’d had to admit the truth.
Faced with my silence, Gabi gave a long sigh. “Looking back now, I saw it so many times, but I thought… I guess I convinced myself it wasn’t about that.”
“I didn’t know what was happening, I swear,” I told her, hating the catch in my voice. “I’d never felt that way about a guy before. All I knew was, I really liked him, and he was nice to me.”
“He was nice to me, too,” she murmured, watching me carefully. “You’re like him, then? You’re bisexual?”
I hesitated, but there didn’t seem much point in lying about it now. “I think so, yeah.”
She nodded, taking a minute to absorb the information, before asking, “Did he ever say anything to you, about you and me… and him?”
My pulse screeched to a halt, before starting again in double-time. “What do you mean?”
Clearing her throat, she tried again. “Did he ever talk about liking us both?”
Drink her kiss from my lips, Connor. I want to share it with you.
I lowered my head, desperate to deny the way my body reacted to the memory of his voice saying those words. Gabi had to know what Law really wanted, he must have told her, otherwise she wouldn’t be asking these questions. Did she know I’d been into it? Did he tell her?
“He might have said something about it.” My gaze ping-ponged between her face and my clasped hands, unsure which destination would be more likely to give me away.
She took a deep breath, licked her lips. “What did you think about that?”
“I was shocked, of course.” That much was true. “I mean, I can’t imagine…” Except, I really could imagine, and I had, so many times over the past three months. But I couldn’t admit those fantasies to Gabi. If she discovered how much I’d wanted it too, how I’d ached for it ever since, I’d lose her forever. “He’s crazy.”
“Right?” she cried with a relieved laugh. “That’s what I said.”
I nodded with great enthusiasm. “Totally crazy.” A sick feeling swirled in my stomach as I stood up. “I should go. I’ve got some last-minute packing to do.”
“Don’t go yet, you just got here.” Rising from her own chair, Gabi grabbed her coffee cup and phone. “I’m planning a busy morning of drowning my feelings in pancakes smothered in maple syrup. You should join me.”
The tightness in my chest, the one I’d been living with from the instant Law’s lips touched mine, eased a little, and I could breathe again. “I should probably stay away from the pancakes, at least until this whole modelling thing is done. But I could keep you company.”
“Okay,” she said, pointing a finger at me, “but don’t think I’m going to hold back on the binge just because you’re watching, and be prepared for an ugly cry when you leave.”
“I want the ugliest cry you’ve got,” I told her. “It means you still care.”
She tutted and opened her arms. “Of course I still care, you big silly.”
Smiling, I wrapped my arms around her. Her body tucked in neatly against mine, as it always had, as if she belonged there. I breathed in her scent, so grateful I hadn’t lost her for good.
What the hell had I been thinking, getting caught up in Law’s delusions anyway? He may have made my blood rush and my head spin, but Gabi did all that and more. I’d loved her forever. Iwouldlove her forever—even if she could never truly be mine. Most of all, I would never let Lawrence, or anyone else, come between us ever again.
SEVEN
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