The side of my mouth turned up as I took her hand in mine and held it between us. “I knew we should’ve just gone to my truck earlier. We could’ve saved ourselves from being caught, and you wouldn’t have had to sing up onstage.”
“Eh, I’d say the singing was well worth it, don’t you think?” She beamed with pride.
“You were all right.” I suppressed a grin.
She lightly smacked my arm and laughed, and then her smile faded. “I know you didn’t want Danny to find out, but maybe it’s better this way. I didn’t like being the reason you were lying to him.”
I rubbed my palm along my jaw. “I guess I didn’t see it as lying. I saw it as protecting him.”
“From me?”
I paused and then finally nodded. “Deep down, he knows you’re not at fault, but he still holds a grudge about everything that happened when you two were younger. Danny idolized your dad and just wanted to be acknowledged by your mom. He blamed you for taking them away from him. And I know that’s unfair, but he went through years of depression…drinking, and drug abuse.”
An alarmed look twisted her face. “Wh-what?”
I shook my head. This wasn’t a good time to tell her about Danny’s past. “It was a long time ago. He didn’t know right from wrong and was just trying to feel better.”
“I didn’t know about the drugs.” Avery’s eyes fell to my chest.
“Your mom always told him that’s where he’d end up. He was ashamed she was right, and I think that’s what ultimately got him to stop using.”
“Danny isn’t the person my mom thinks he is, even with his mistakes. He’s so much more than that.”
“Well, he’s in a much better place now. I should’ve known he could’ve handled the truth about us. I just didn’t want him to discover I had feelings for his sister because he might blame you for that too.”
Her head swung up to me. “You have feelings for me?”
Shit.I was losing.
I ran my finger along her cheek. “Hey, you’re the one who said you wanted me.”
She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip as she blushed. “I’ve been wanting you a lot lately.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Liam…”
“Avery…”
She sighed in defeat. Leaning into my hand, she closed her eyes for a second before locking them with mine. “Just before the thunder hit, when we were lying in the rain, you looked over at me.”
“I remember,” I said, searching her features.
“That’s when everything changed. When you became more to me.”
“You’ve felt something for me this whole time?”
Her gray eyes dropped to my lips, and she answered with a single nod.
I win.
And then the game quickly changed. I was losing, the longer I stood there silently.
Her lashes swept up as she looked at me again, waiting for me to reciprocate with a response.
I opened my mouth to tell her how I felt, but I didn’t make a sound.
I never said a word.
