“I guess not. You see, she went to Harvard, and so did my dad. That’s where they met. I grew up with Harvard posters on my wall—and not by choice. Stanford was like second place, which might as well be last in her eyes.”
I gripped the edges of the black wood encasing her so-called “failure,” seeing her relationship with her mom in a whole new light. But then I also saw Avery in a whole new light since she’d moved in. A childhood trauma and a lifetime of trying to be perfect had changed her. And yet something told me that I never really knew her at all.
I flipped the frame over and began removing the back.
“What are you doing?” Her eyes went wide, looking between me and the frame. Her delicate fingers enclosed over my hand, trying to stop me, but I swatted it away. “You can’t just go into people’s rooms and start tearing their stuff apart.”
The corner of my mouth pulled up. “Hey, it’s better than sitting in someone’s room and staring at them while they change. Talk about being objectified.”
Her mouth dropped open into a wide grin, and then I heard her laugh. And not just any laugh. A deep belly laugh that made the air charge with electricity. I couldn’t help but laugh with her.
Once I removed the letter, I held it up and read it out loud. “Dear Ms. Fox. The Committee on Admissions has completed its regular decision meeting, and I am very sorry to inform you that we cannot offer you admission toblah, blah, blah.”
I waved the paper in front of her, and she grabbed hold of it, still laughing. As we both pulled, a slight tearing sound made us freeze.
Her blue eyes locked on to me, and her faint smile grew.
“The only one who gets to decide your failures is yourself,” I said, letting it go.
She looked down at the paper in her hand and then gently tore it in half. A relieved smile made its way to her face, softening the tight features her schoolwork had put there.
I leaned back, propping myself up on my elbow. “Can I ask you something?”
“You just did,” she teased, twisting down onto her stomach.
I smiled briefly, but it fell, the longer I looked at her. “You said Zayn didn’t break your heart, you broke his. How?”
Her cheeks warmed. She hadn’t expected that to be my question. “He, um, asked me to marry him…and I said no.”
I searched her face for a moment, trying to find regret in her eyes but there wasn’t any.
“I know it doesn’t make sense. I mean, he’s sort of perfect.” Her gaze dropped to the ground when she let out a small laugh.
There was this strange prickly sensation that climbed up my spine that felt an awful lot like jealousy.
“He was everything I thought I wanted, but when he got down on one knee…I don’t know. I guess I started picturing what my life would be like, and I didn’t want it anymore. That whole white-picket-fence thing scared me. I wasn’t ready, and I think I knew I’d never be ready to marry him. There just wasn’t enough …” She shook her head, trying to describe their relationship had lacked.
But I knew what had been missing between them. I knew what Avery needed. What she longed for. Something she and I had. “Of this?”
Her eyes shot to mine, and she suddenly seemed closer. “What?”
I smiled because she knew what I meant. “There wasn’t enough heat. You guys didn’t share that carnal desire to want to rip each other’s clothes off and fuck until the sun came up.”
Avery shuddered. “Is that what you think about?”
I lifted her chin and ran the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip. “It’s what we both think about, Avery. Tell me I’m wrong.”
She leaned into my touch. “If you want to kiss me again, do it.”
My hand fell. I wanted that more than my next breath.
“You’re not going to touch me because I’m Danny’s little sister.” Her eyebrow rose. “Right? That’s why you lied to me the other night?”
When I didn’t answer, she sat upright and adjusted her notes we’d been lying on, letting out a frustrated sigh. “I’ve got some more studying to do, Liam.”
I bit my lip hard, fighting every impulse I was so used to giving in to. “Listen, Avery,” I started. “I betrayed my family once when I turned my father over to the police. Yes, I want you. I don’t know what that means or why that feeling won’t go away, but I won’t betray the only family I have left. I won’t do that to Danny.”
She nodded her head as I rose to my feet.
