“Look. At. Me.”
I shake my head, my vision swimming. He’s inches away now, and I feel like I might shatter if I blink.
Then, his hand, so gentle it hurts, tilts my chin up.
And I say the only word I have left.
“Velvet.”
Everything in him stops. Like I’ve cut the wires holding him together.
He steps back, as if burned.
The silence that follows is deafening.
His eyes search mine, desperately, but I can’t give him what he wants, not without losing myself completely.
He opens his mouth. Closes it. Swallows hard.
And then he turns… slowly, painfully, and walks out.
Leaving me there with nothing but tulip petals in the trash and a hollow space in my chest I don’t know how to fill.
I don’t know how long I stay frozen in the ensuite bathroom.
Eventually, my legs remember how to move, and I make my way back to the bedroom. The silence is crushing. My hands reflexively fumble for my phone, and without thinking too hard, I dial the only person I can talk to about any of this.
“She lives,” Dylan teases as he picks up, but his voice softens quickly. “It’s been a minute, B.”
“Hi,” I whisper.
“What’s wrong?”
“I did something terrible,” I say, already crying. “Something so, so stupid.”
“Hey, hey,” he says gently. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. Just tell me what happened.”
“I slept with my sister’s fiancé,” I choke out.
Silence.
“What!?” The word explodes out of him like a slap.
“That’s not even the worst part.”
“What do you mean that’s not the worst part?” His voice cracks with disbelief. “You’re joking. Blair, please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m not. I wish I were.” I wipe my face, though the tears keep coming. “I’m in love with him.”
“Oh, Blair…” He sounds like someone who’s just had the air knocked out of him. “Shit.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Yes, you do,” he says. “You need to leave. You need to get the hell out of that house, out of that situation.”
“I can’t.” I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “The wedding is in a month. If I leave, she’ll know something’s wrong. She’ll hate me forever.”
“To hell with the wedding,” he snaps. “What exactly happened? How long has this been going on?”
