“Your marketing company?” he asked.
“Well, I’m co-founder,” I corrected.
“That’s… Chloe, that’s amazing,” he said, his face lighting up. “No, I had no idea.” A genuine smile lifted to his eyes, making me weak. But that smile fell slightly, and the pain returned to his gaze.
“You moved,” he said.
“Yeah, a year ago,” I said.
“No, I mean you moved apartments that year,” he said, and I shifted on my feet.
“How did you know that?” I asked, knowing I had moved out of that apartment a few months after our night together.
He started to reach for my face again. “Because I went back for you,” he whispered.
Oh, fucking hell.
“You…” I didn’t know what to say. A lump rose in my throat. Emotion pricked behind my eyes, and I didn’t understand why. “You what?”
“I went back for you that fall,” he continued. “To take you on the date we talked about. But you weren’t there.”
No.
No. No. No.No.
“I told you I would,” he said, hand back on my cheek. “I thought eight months…” His thumb stroked my cheekbone tenderly, causing me to lean into his touch. I couldn’t believe what he was saying.
“Even if you weren’t ready for me, I wanted to see you again,” he continued. “I couldn’t get you out of my head. That night—“
Fuck, I couldn’t do this here.
“Gavin, it was one night,” I said, and I knew how ridiculous it sounded, knew that while itwasjust one night, it was a fucking great night—a night I’d been waiting for, no, apersonI’d been waiting for.
“Was it?” Gavin asked. “Because it felt like the start of a lifetime for me.”
Shit.
I had to get out of there before the emotion that was trying to surface toppled over. I didn’t know why I felt like this, why the mention of him coming back that Fall made me feel like I would cripple into a puddle if I didn’t hold onto something.
“I can’t,” I said, stepping out of his grasp. “I can’t do this here. Not now. Not…” I looked down the hall toward the many tables, toward where I knew Tyler was waiting on me, and I took a step sideways.
“Chloe—“
“I can’t,” I managed. “Not here.”
I looked at him one more time, observing his crestfallen shoulders as his grip loosened around my wrist, the broken heart in his eyes, and I forced myself to walk away.
Shit. Shit.Shit—
I hadn’t moved twenty steps before Lana practically ran into me and sank her arm around mine.
“Okay?” she asked, and I knew I’d been right about her seeing him pull me aside.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, realizing my voice was cracking. My jaw began to quiver, and Lana’s grip tightened. “Lana, I can’t—“
God, where had this emotion come from? Why did seeing him make me feel this way?
Lana paused at an empty table and handed me a drink. I downed it quickly, wincing at the alcohol’s sting, then picked up her drink and downed it as well.
