“Talk,” I demand. My hands are shoved deep into thepockets of my wool coat, my chin tucked hard behind my collar to keep my voice from shaking from both the cold and my anger.
Aston doesn’t answer right away. Then he lets out a long, ragged breath that dissolves in the cold air. “Ace called me,” he starts, his voice rough. “The day you invited me to go with you. He told me about his nomination and wanted me to go with him. He was running on pure adrenaline, and I should have just told him right then, but I didn’t. Then he texted me a few days later and saw your name on the schedule and knew you would be there.”
I turn my head, keeping my gaze on the empty benches ahead of us. “And?”
“Eva … ” Aston says, my name falling heavy between us. “He saw you would be there and he thought it was a sign. Just like when he ran into you at my game.”
I whip my head toward him, the wind catching my hair and covering my face. I pull it back with a gloved hand, turning to look at him, immediately confused. “A sign? What the hell are you talking about?”
Aston steps into me. The cold has turned the tips of his ears red, but his face was pale, and his eyes look tormented.
“Remember how I told you he was going to take his shot with you after he saw you at my game?”
I nod. “Yeah, but I never answered him.”
“I know, and he didn’t bring it up to me again. But then when he saw your name for the awards, he said it was like a sign that you were his or some shit. He fired off texts back to back about it.” He huffs.
I sigh and shake my head. The sheer absurdity of what is being said is baffling.
“Ace thought …” I trail off. “Are you messing with me? You can’t be serious. It’s been years since we’ve been together. And I only spoke to him for maybe ten minutes at your game. He thought my name on a production schedule was a sign forhim?”
“He, uh. Doesn’t know about us.” He steps closer, blockingthe wind, creating a pocket of heat between us. “That’s the biggest fuck up of all of this. He doesn’t know about us. I hadn’t told him yet. And then this happened, and I didn’t want to tell him before the awards, especially after his texts. I kept that wall up, then it backfired on me.”
“So, instead of telling him the truth,” I say, the tears finally breaking through, hot and stinging my cheeks, “instead of standing on the line and saying—oh, I don’t know—Ace, Eva and I are together,you just ditched us both?”
“I froze, Eva!” Aston roars, the sound of his voice cutting through the wind, raw and desperate. “I felt trapped between two of the most important people in my life. And I had had a conversation with Archie and the bonds of blood, and that fucked with my head too. Although Archie didn’t know it was you I was talking about. But he talked about family coming first and not letting anyone get between that. So I felt like telling Ace before wasn’t the right time.”
“You should have talked to me!” I cry, my hands clenching at my sides, my body shaking with anger, but also … grief. “You should have called me, Aston! I thought this was something special. That we were all in. If you had just told me what he said and given me the respect I deserve, we could have figured it out together. But you didn’t trust that I could handle it. You didn’t trustus.”
“I was trying to protect his night,” Aston whispers. “He’s worked hard for that trophy, and I just thought telling him before the show was a bad move. It would have gotten him all up in his head. So instead, I took myself completely off the board. I thought if I just took the hit, I could keep the peace until after the weekend was over.”
“And what about my peace?” I step into his chest, my eyes blazing through my tears as I look up at him. “What about the fact that you ditched me? Do you know how embarrassed I was to tell my dad you couldn’t make it? It made me feel like I was the only one in this. I put my job on the line for you. Had amature conversation with my dad about us. And I gladly took those risks because I believed we were strong enough to stand together.”
“We are,” he pleads, his hands coming out of his pocket and locking around my arms. His grip is tight and desperate. “I am, Eva. I swear to God I am. I just … let the fear of losing him blind me to the fact that I could also lose the only thing that mattered.”
He pulls me in so our chests touch and rests his forehead against mine. “Don’t give up on me,” he chokes out. “I love you. It feels like I’ve loved you since college if I’m being honest. I’ll take care of my brother. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that I love you and that I’m committed to us. Just please don’t let me go.”
I close my eyes, my heart feeling like it’s breaking, but beneath that pain, my anger is melting under the heat of his apology. He’s an idiot. A hot and incredibly sexy idiot.
But he’s mine.
I reach up and wrap my arms around his shoulders. I look into his eyes, seeing the raw truth there.
“Aston,” I say softly, tears still warm on my cheeks. “I love you too.”
The words feel like the first real breath I’ve taken since Friday. “But if you ever lie to me again, or withhold the truth, I will personally guarantee that you will never have any highlight footage on prime time television. Do you understand me?”
A sudden laugh breaks through, a sound of relief that shakes the chill right out of us. “I understand, Honeybee. Loud and clear. And I’m going to call Ace tomorrow and tell him about us.”
A smile touches my lips, my hand coming up to cup his jaw. “Good. Because if you don’t, I’m going to schedule an exclusive interview with him and make you sit in the production truck watching the whole thing.”
Aston lets out a low chuckle, his forehead coming to rest on mine. “Vicious, Honeybee.”
Obviously I wouldn’t, but it’s fun giving him shit.
“Let’s go before we freeze to the spot and can’t make up properly.” I start to walk away, but he pulls me back into him and kisses me softly.
“Lead the way,” he says.
