I bit my bottom lip and nodded once.
“I’ll tell you later,” I said, my voice just loud enough. “There’s… a lot.”
Aspen let out a squeal and threw me a thumbs-up. “Yes! It’s about time!”
Her excitement lit something in me.
“Time for what?” Theo asked as she bounced beside us, her braided pigtails swinging down her back like a metronome to the beat.
“Logan and Ellie!” Aspen clapped, practically vibrating with joy.
“Oh thankGod,” Theo said dramatically.
“Iknewit!” Penny chimed in, pointing at me like she’d just won a bet. “Finally!”
I shook my head and scanned their faces, one by one.
“Wait… did you all expect something to happen between us?”
Before I could get an answer, the music kicked back up, louder than before, swallowing our conversation whole. Aspen waved her hand with a grin and mouthed,later.
But I didn’t need the words.
Their reactions told me everything I needed to know.
They’d seen it. Felt it.Knewit. I wasn’t crazy, and this wasn’t just some reckless, heat-fueled fling. It was real. It had always been real. Not just to me. Tothem, too.
We slipped back into dancing, bodies moving in rhythm with the music, sweat-slicked and loose-limbed. The energy on the floor was electric, but I could feel myself fading—my legs heavy, my throat dry.
I should’ve taken a break a few minutes ago.
Maybe I’d sneak away now, grab a drink, catch my breath… maybe steal a few more moments with Logan.
I turned to head toward the bar and?—
Smacked straight into a wall of muscle.
“Oh, sorr—” I started, stumbling back.
Then I looked up, and the breath caught in my throat.
Miles.
My heart dropped like a stone, a full ten pounds of dread hitting the floor inside me. My skin prickled, the weight of his presence suffocating. Not here. Nottonight.
Just when I’d finally let myself go. When I was happy. Light. Free.
Of course the universe would throw this at me now, like it couldn’t stand to see me whole.
Didn’t he get the hint? When he showed up at the shop, I told him I didn’t want to hear it.
And yet here he was, at the bar, like this was his moment.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, fury swallowing my panic like a firestorm.
“Will you meet me outside?” he asked, voice low, calm. Like he thought that would work.
I let out a disbelieving laugh and shook my head.
