I spin around to find her on her way down, flipping me off in a move she seems to have mastered. And honestly, it makes my cock twitch. “You wound me, B,” I call out, jogging once again to catch up with her. “I thought we were getting along.” I chuckle to myself until she stops, hitting me with a pleading gaze.
Her eyes close as she sucks in a breath, and when they open again, there’s an emptiness there that breaks me.
“I get that this is some big joke to you. But seeing you again is tearing me apart.”
“Blair—”
“No, wait.” She raises a hand between us, and I pause, my stomach in knots.This isn’t a joke to me. At all. But I can’t seem to stay the fuck away from her now that I’ve seen her again. She’s like my old Blair but different, and just like back then, I want to get to know every part of her. She’s always had a power over me, and time hasn’t taken that away from her. “Before you say anything, before you act like we didn’t go our separate ways for a reason, I need you to listen to me.”
“I can do that.”
“Good.” She pauses, smiling at a family that walks past, her expression friendly until they’re gone. “I know why you left. I’m not disputing that and I don’t blame you for it. But I’ve spentyearspicking up the pieces of not only my own shattered life but your parents’ too.”
What?
“They needed someone to make sense of it all.” She answers my unspoken question. “And I was the one they chose.”
Fuck, my chest burns as I almost want to rub away the pain. “That’s… I… They shouldn’t have done that. That wasn’t your burden to bear.”
“What was I supposed to do? Ignore them, like you did?”
Her words cut me like a razor blade but I don’t let her see it. This isn’t about me. This is about what she went through. Though I’m shocked she thinks that way. I thought she knew me better than that.
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” I say instead of telling her how often I called them. How much I cared. She doesn’t want to hear that right now. She wants to hear that I was wrong. That her efforts were just. “I should have been there for them. That responsibility shouldn’t have fallen to you.”
“It’s too late for that now. But I appreciate the apology.”
“Must be a rarity for you.”
“What?”
Dammit, Zane.Why can’t I ever keep my mouth shut? “Nothing.” I smile. “Again, I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t nothing.”
“Fine, don’t hate me, but I was referring to the fact that your golden boy never does anything wrong. In his eyes anyway. I can’t imagine he apologizes much.”
Blair shakes her head, but instead of snapping back at me like I expect, she laughs. She laughs so hysterically that people startto stare. “God, this is sofucked up.” She almost yells the last part and groans out loud, burying her face in her hands. “I—”
“B,” I whisper-yell, my eyes shooting to another family walking past. “I’m sorry. It’s been a tough month for her and—”
“Oh, God.” Blair drops her hands, and her face pales. “Oh, God. Oh, God.”
“Not making it better,” I say under my breath.
“I’m sorry,” she blurts as the family moves on. “So sorry,” she calls after them, sincerely worried, but before she can say any more, I cover her mouth with my hand.
“The damage is done, B.Relax.”
Blair’s eyes narrow and I instantly regret my choice of words. Of all the things I’ve said today, this is the one I’ll be killed for.
Covering my hand with her own, she bites down on my flesh before shoving me away. “Relax?” She repeats my word back to me and I cringe.
“B—”
“No.” She deflates, the fight gone. “I want to go home.”
“Let me walk you—”
