Eyes locked on the path ahead, I trailed Henry through the crowd, trying not to choke on my own heartbeat. Trying not to puke from the sudden, gut-deep wave of guilt clawing up my throat.
Shouldn’t have done that.
Fucking hell.
Couldn’t believe I’d just done that.
The table—and of course, Luca—came into view, and I fought every instinct screaming at me to turn around and disappear. Couldn’t do that. I was supposed to be a fucking adult.
It had been a very long time since I’d craved a cigarette like this.
Just one.
Or five.
Before we reached them, before anyone spotted me, I grabbed Henry’s arm and held him back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ethan stop too, only for Mateo to lay a hand on the small of his back and guide him forward.
Henry glanced at me, wide-eyed, curious—and very much like he wanted to mock me. That alone made my teeth grind. Because he was part of the fucking problem too.
“What do you need?” he asked.
Deep breath.Calm. You are going to calm down.
“Why did you make me come to this thing?” The accusation in my voice was embarrassingly obvious.So much for calm.
His eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?” A dry laugh. “Is this somehowmyfault?”
“Yes.”
Another laugh. “You’re fucking delusional.”
I stepped in closer. “Why the fuck do you have to keep touching him all the time? You know it messes with my head. Why do you keep doing it?”
Henry’s expression snapped through shock, confusion, and straight into outrage so fast it made me dizzy.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me a little farther out of view, leaning in. “First of all, how fucking dare you? Are you seriously accusing me of making a move on your guy right now? Because you know damn well I would never do that to you. Ever.”
Guilt hit hard once more—shoving some of the anger out of its way.
“Second, if you’re pissed about the touching, take that up with Ethan, not me.He’sthe one who wanted to rile you up to get back at Luca.”
What?
“I’ve told both of you to stop putting me in the fucking middle,” he went on. “Because I amnotchoosing a side when this blows up in your faces.”
I stared at him, lips parted.
“And third—what the fuck, Sebastian?” He threw me a look full of disbelief. “You’re being a dick. Just make up your mind already.”
“I don’t need to?—”
“Oh, no? You don’t?” He was mad—Henry was genuinely mad at me—and something inside my chest tightened another notch. “You think you can just keep going on like this and not make a choice?”
“That’s not?—”
“You need to either break up with your robot boyfriend—who is very fucking aware that you still have feelings for Ethan—or you need to ask Ethan to back the fuck up. But you cannot keep playing the nice guy, flirting with everybody like there won’t be consequences. Because in case you haven’t noticed, you’ve completely lost the plot.”
I blinked, stunned.
