Aiden rears back as though I slapped him. “After all of this, you’re still going to have coffee with him?”
“Yes, I’m going to have coffee with him. Why wouldn’t I? He’s nice and funny and—”
“I don’t care if he’s a fucking prince,” Aiden shouts.
We stare at one another, each of us breathing hard.
“Don’t go.” Aiden walks across the room and stops when he’s in front of me. He takes my hand in his. “Stay here. Let’s talk this out. Christ, Lizzie, I was in love with you before I realized it, and I’ll never forgive myself for not recognizing it sooner, but I need you to forgive me.”
“No, you don’t get to say that to me. Not now. Not after everything.” I yank my hand away and walk to the front door. Aiden rushes after me.
“I’m sorry. Scream at me, hit me, do whatever you have to do to work through your feelings, but do it here with me. Please don’t go with him.”
I’m confused. Confused and scared and happy, and I have no idea what to do with this. I just know that I nee
d to get out of here. I need a minute to breathe and think and process.
Everything I’ve thought about that night has been a lie. All the feelings I’ve been pushing away, and for what, a misunderstanding?
“I’m sorry, Aiden. Em, I promise we’ll talk later.”
Emily gasps when I open the front door and walk out. As soon as the door is shut, I hear a muted curse followed by a loud crash.
The farther I get away from Aiden, the faster my tears fall. My heart races, and my legs shake as they carry me down the stairs and outside. Rain mixes with my tears as I race across the parking lot. When I make it to Ethan’s passenger door, I stop and look up at the building. Aiden is standing at his living room window, and when I lock eyes with him, he turns and walks away.
The pain I felt the night he shot me down has nothing on the pain I feel now.
This all-consuming, breathtaking, soul-stealing kind of pain.
10
Aiden
I saw a husband cheering on his wife to chug her margarita at dinner…that’s the type of relationship I want. –Liz
I’ve kissed Lizzie before.
Jesus Christ, I kissed Lizzie. I’ve had her beautiful lips on mine, and I was too drunk or tired or whatever to realize it.
That’s going to haunt me for a damn long time.
“Aiden…” Emily slowly walks across the room. She stops in front of me, her hands tucked in the pockets of her jeans. “She’ll come back.”
“I don’t want her to come back,” I lie, hurt, anger, and embarrassment fueling my emotions.
“You don’t mean that. You’re just hurting. You’re both hurting. But I know my sister. She might be a little stubborn and, okay, a lot stubborn,” she adds when I give her a look, “but she loves you. I don’t know if she’s in love with you because she’s always been tight-lipped when it comes to anything Aiden, but I know she loves you.”
“Just not the way I want her to love me.”
“Don’t be so quick to write her off.”
What am I supposed to do, sit here and wait? I walk to the window, needing to move to keep from chasing after her, but when I see Lizzie stop at his car and look up, I turn away. I can’t watch her leave with him.
Emily’s eyes follow me across the room. I grab a broom and dustpan. “I’m sorry if I scared you when I threw the vase.”
It wasn’t my finest moment.
“You didn’t,” she says.