Page 119 of Out of Control

How can I hurt him like this?

“Yeah?” His eyes cloud when he takes in my face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I need you to hold things down for me for a bit.”

He barks out a confused laugh. “Why? How? This is your night.”

“He deserves to be here.”

It’s all I have to say. All he has to hear.

He nods and says, “He does.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Sofia

“Rossi?” I pound on the front of his door like a mad woman. “Ollie. Please.”

I’ve worked myself up into a tizzy by the time I reach his front door. And even more so when he doesn’t answer instantly like I’d planned out in my head on the car ride over.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Why should he open the door?

You didn’t defend him.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

You completely disregarded him.

You didn’t stand up for him.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

“Sofia?” He yanks the door open. “Is everything okay?” His eyes take me in. I can see the worry in them but there’s also a distance there too. His guard’s up.

“No. It’s not okay.”

I wait for the flippant comment, for the snide remark. For the signature Oliver Rossi everyone knows and expects.

“What do you need?” he asks me.

Not what’s wrong after I blew him off, but what do you need?

I don’t deserve him.

Not in a million years after the way I treated him in front of my grandfather.

“You,” I say. “I need you, Ollie. With me. At my side. At our gallery. I need you.”

He shakes his head, almost as if he doesn’t want to believe me. Almost as if he does, he’ll know I’ll hurt him again. “No, you don’t.” A strained smile. “I can’t be there. Your grandfather is there and the last thing I want is to cause a rift between you and him . . .”

“That’s just it. It will and for the first time in my life I’m okay with it because I love you, and I’m sick of hiding it. I’m sick of pretending to others that I don’t.” My heart is in my throat as I reach for his hand, fearful that he’ll take a step back. But he doesn’t. He links his fingers with mine and that symbol of trust, of faith in me, is more than I deserve. “If my grandfather has a problem with us, then he’ll just have to learn to deal with it.”

“You sure about that?” He chuckles and for a brief second, I see the trace of a smile. And I have hope.

“So sure. I’m in the wrong on this. Oddly enough, you’re the one who taught me that. Who made me see it. This is me and I’m pretty damn proud of her. And you, Ollie, you’re my choice. I can be a Navarro and have you.”