Brooklyn: Tally, NO.
Anna: I’m with Brook. Don’t.
Me: I have to.
A sob rose in my chest and I forced it down. People were staring even though I was holding in the tears. These strangers were more in tune with my emotions than Madden.
Brooklyn: Hey, let’s talk this through.
I couldn’t do this right now.
AsI looked down to drop my phone into my pocket, I slammed into someone so hard my teeth rattled. “Oh, I’m s-so sorry.” My voice shook. Whoever it was gripped my shoulders, righting me. Without thinking I looked up to make sure they were okay.
Buttheywas Ashton.
I’d been so busy texting that I hadn’t realized he’d left the table. One look at my tears and he bent down to look me in the eye, his face full of worry and compassion. “Tally, what’s wrong?”
His hair was tousled, his waves unkempt. He looked tired but…my heart stuttered…so handsome. A niggle of guilt crept in. I was engaged. I should not be checking Ashton out. It wasn’t lost on me that in less than a second, he’d noticed my tears. How dare he know me better than Madden, especially after handing me off to Gibson?
“How could you?” The words came out even though I told them not to. “How could you pass me off to someone else and then show up here tonight with a date? Of all the nights. Were you trying to rub it in? You didn’t think I was hurtenough? You were my…myperson.” As I said the words, I knew they were true. And I was ashamed of myself. Madden should’ve been my person. But it was Ash. He was the one I went to when something funny happened. Or something hard. He was the one I sent stupid memes to every day. And talked with for hours on end about books and movies. Not Madden.
And he’d shoved me away like it was nothing.
His head tilted, studying me, a wrinkle of confusion between his brows and a twitch to his pursed lips—as if he wanted to say something but he wouldn’t let himself. It was fine. His silence said everything anyway.
Good old, dependable, never-rock-anyone’s-boat Ashton would have nothing to do with me after this. I was going to be another man’s wife. He’d stepped back as my professor. Now he’d step back as my friend.
At that realization, I broke, sobs hitting me in waves.
Suddenly, his strong fingers were wrapped around my wrists, pulling me to him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just trying to do the right thing.” He crushed me to him, cradling my head against his shoulder as I clung to his waist. Ashton and I never hugged. We weren’t those kinds of friends. But he hugged me now, like his life depended on it. I know mine did.
A crowd of people crammed by us, trying to get to the hostess station. Ash curled an arm around me and guided me through the exit door, and out into the cold air. He hurried us down the sidewalk and around the corner. All while I was still sobbing.
“Hey,” he said softly as he leaned against the brick, still clutching me tight. “Hey, shhhh.” His tone was soothing. “It’s okay.” His fingers were at the base of my neck, gently massaging circles there.
Standing outside Capitol Cuts, wrapped safely inAshton’s arms, was the last place I should be. Especially wearing Madden’s jersey.But I didn’t care because for the first time tonight, all the chaos had stopped. Like someone hit the pause button, my heart slowed. My body melded into his and my mind fell quiet, filled only with the soft whisper of his breath.
A happy couple meandering up the sidewalk glanced over. They were discussing the Rockets game from tonight, of all things. Their eyes were on my jersey. You’d think it would’ve slapped some sense into me but it didn’t. I needed Ashton’s arms around me. He quickly spun us around so my back was against the wall, Madden’s name hidden, Ash’s tall body creating a protective barrier.
He hunched down, his cheek pressed against mine. “I’m your person?” There was frustration in his voice, and questions. Probably asking why was he my person, what that meant, and if he was my person, what on earth was I doing with Madden?
Ash leaned back to look at me expectantly.
“Yeah. You are.” What was I doing, standing here with him like this? Madden would kill me. I should go inside. “I’ve missed you.”
He swallowed and his Adam’s apple dipped. “Did you?”
I nodded. “So much it hurts.” The pain of no Ashton in my life had been all-consuming.
That elusive thrill I’d wanted to feel with Madden? It hit me like a tidal wave with Ashton. Heart racing, skin burning from his touch. How had I never recognized how alive I was whenever he was around?
I’d been in straight-up denial. There was no other explanation.
“Congrats on your engagement?” His brow cocked and he looked so confused. I was confusing myself.
I pulled his forehead down to mine, surely confusing himeven more. But he let me. We stood there, nose to nose, our breath intermingling into a single puff of condensation. My belly hummed at being tight against him. Electricity pulsed in my bloodstream like I was on a thrill ride. Even the tips of my toes and the palms of my hands were thrumming.
Was this one-sided, or did he feel it too? I had to find out. Now. If this was nothing, I’d walk away and straight back into Madden’s arms. But if it was something… I had no idea what to do.
