“Like… you love me.”
“Idolove you. I’ll never stop—” She shuts her mouth abruptly. “Sorry, is that inappropriate to say?”
“No. It’s nice to hear. I’ll never stop loving you either.”
“But peoplewillthink it’s strange I’m looking at my ex-boyfriend like I love him.”
“Don’t call me your ex-boyfriend. I hate the sound of it.”
“So do I. Surely there has to be a better label.”
Contemplating a solution, I twirl Harper around and press her spine to me, the two of us swaying as I hug her from behind. A smile finds my lips when the answer arrives. “As corny as it sounds, we’re soul mates. We’re bound for life. I told you when we first started our break—we may be far apart from each otherat times, but we’ll always find our way back to each other. It’s you and me, always.”
“I love that. Soul mates.”
I laugh. “It’s fucking corny. Forget I said that shit.”
She spins back to face me. “It’s not corny. I mean it, I love it.”
Harper’s eyes flick to the side, looking at something behind me. She stiffens, loses the smile, and swallows hard.
“You okay?” I glance over my shoulder and realize Felix is behind us, close enough to have heard our entire conversation. From the way he’s glaring at us, I know he heard the whole thing. All the laughter. TheI love yous. The soul mate talk.
Harper steps back from me. “Felix?—”
“Thought we could talk,” he says. “But I’ve heard everything I need to.”
Without another word, Felix turns his back on us and disappears through the crowd.
Harper swears under her breath. “I’m surprised he has an issue with me dancing with you. He was so cruel to me this morning and made it clear he wants nothing to do with me.”
“Felix cares, Harp. He never stopped caring about you. Let me talk to him and explain what he heard.”
“No. I’ll find him.”
CHAPTER TEN
FELIX
I storm out of the party and into the darkness of the gardens, furious at myself for letting Ally get into my head about speaking with Harper. Seeing Harper and Tyler dancing so fucking intimately, gazing at each other like they’re still so fucking in love, telling each other they’re soul mates… I can’t do this shit again.
“Felix, wait.”
I turn around, swearing when I see Harper standing in front of me, her blue eyes luminous in the dark. So much for Theo acting as a buffer this weekend. Where the fuck is he when I need him? Off flirting with a guest.
Every time I see Harper, no matter how mad I am with her, I feel the spark between us. I hear the voice in my head shouting at me to give in and take her back.
Without a word, I walk by her.
“Tyler and I are taking a break,” she calls after me. I don’t reply and keep walking. “We’ll always love each other but we were unhappy as a couple because we didn’t have you. We don’t work without you.”
My molars grind and my nails bite into my palms as I try to block out her voice.
“I know last night meant something to you. We’re so good together, Felix. Why can’t you let go of the past?”
My temper bursts and I spin around, unleashing years of pain as I storm back to her. “You want to know why I can’t let go of the past? Because you fuckingruinedme, Harper! I grew up with abandonment and trust issues, but I took a leap of faith and decided to be vulnerable with you because you were the most precious thing in the world to me. I gave you all of me. I changed my life for you. I was ready to commit my entire future to you. But you chose my brother. You broke my heart and I can’t return to that vulnerable place with you, not when you’re still mixed up with Tyler. Don’t even get me started on him. What he did was worse. Tyler meant just as much to me as you did. I trusted him and he stabbed me in the back.”
She takes a step closer, trying to reason with me. “Felix, I was young and scared. My whole life had been turned upside down. I didn’t know where you’d gone. I know it wasn’t your fault, but you weren’t there for me when I needed you. I needed support and stability, so I did what I thought was right.”
