My breath gets knocked out of me when I slam into a hard wall. Only I realize when I glance up that it’s not a hard wall at all. It’s Endymion. His hands shoot out, gripping my upper arms to steady me, and my breath leaves me in a whoosh, like someone sucker punched me in the gut and stole the air straight from my lungs. His hands are like hot coals, burning through every layer of my skin, incinerating my flesh. When our gazes clash, I feel a shock roll through my system, part painful, part enticing.
There’s a long beat when we stand there, his hands still on me, and we just stare at each other. I lick my suddenly dry lips, and his eyes dip, following the movement. My heart pounds an aggressive staccato, a riot of emotions happening inside my body. I take a sudden step back from End, and his hands fall away from my arms. I miss the heat of his touch immediately.
He suddenly frowns down at me, taking notice of my face and the puffiness around my eyes. Taking a step toward me, he bends just a bit, trying to meet my eyes. “Hey, you okay?”
I trap my bottom lip between my teeth and bite down while I nod my head. I don’t trust myself to say anything. It’s best if I keep my mouth shut. Because the way things are sounding in my head at the moment? I’m on the verge of telling him everything right here, right now in the hallway of a steakhouse outside of the bathrooms.
He deserves better than that.
Luna deserves better than that.
“Did something happen—?” he starts to ask, but we both startle at the voice a few feet to the right of us.
“Selene? Is that you?” My brows tug down at the inquisition, and I turn toward the source. “Hell, it is you. I thought you left Dunsmuir years ago?”
“James?” I cough, choking on my saliva.
What the hell is happening right now?
James was one of my first boyfriends in town, even though we never shared a kiss or basically did anything other than hold hands. He always knew about my crush on Endymion, which makes me standing here with Endymion, of all people, so damn awkward. The breakup wasn’t on the best of terms. He called me an idiot for pining after someone who’d never love me back, and honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
“God, how long has it been?” he asks, grinning at me. It seems he hasn’t taken notice of Endymion yet.
“Almost six years. I was in Pasadena for a while. I’m back now but not sure for how long.”
James’s grin widens. “That’s great. You look…wow, you look beautiful, Selene.”
His gaze travels up and down my body, lingering on my face, and a tremble wracks my body with embarrassment. I quickly glance at Endymion out of the corner of my eye, and he’s watching the entire interaction with an odd glower on his face. He crosses his thick arms over his chest, scrutinizing James.
I tuck stray hairs behind my ear, feeling uneasy. Everything about this interaction feels awkward. “Thank you,” I mumble, shifting on my feet.
“We should get together sometime. Hang out and catch up.”
At this, Endymion clears his throat, and James finally takes notice of him. His eyes widen, and they dart back and forth between us, as though he’s slowly processing the situation.
“I don’t have much free time on my hands these days. I have a five-year-old to keep up with,” I say, trying to let him down easily.
His brows shoot up into his hairline, shock registering on his face. “Holy shit, you have a kid?” He looks down at my body pointedly. “Wow. I mean, you’d never be able to tell. You look great.”
Universe, please just swallow me whole now. Please, for the love of God.
“Wait, are you two…Did you two finally get together? I guess that crush you had on him finally paid off, right?” James points at Endymion and me. My mouth drops open in shock, and when I look at Endymion for help, he’s biting back a smile, as though he suddenly finds all of this funny. He peers down at me, and I can clearly see the mirth dancing in his gaze.
“No. We’re…He’s just…No.” I shake my head, unable to form a single articulate sentence. James frowns at this, obviously noticing how flustered I am.
“Well, if that’s the case, and you really are single, I’d love to