My Forbidden Guy - Liz Lovelock Page 0,2
Her voice is low. “Parker’s here.”
I spin and spy him coming out of his room down the hall. Dammit. “Hey, Paislee. What are you doing here?”
My heart hammers against my chest. My mind is blank—all my excuses evade me. “Oh, I’m just—”
“She was meeting me. I asked her to come here before we went and grabbed a bite to eat.” Addison smiles sweetly at Parker, who simply shrugs and walks past us.
“Okay, have fun. I’ll see you after classes.” He kisses her and turns to leave.
I want a relationship like that: where the participants are open, honest, and not afraid to show the world.
“See you,” Addison and I say in unison. Then, her heavy stare turns to me.
Dane’s door flies open, and he appears surprised to find us standing there. “Catch you later.” He drops his gaze and moves around us.
Great, now I’ve made things super awkward.
“Perfect,” I mutter. Moments ago, everything was great, and now I don’t even know where I stand.
In the courtyard, my focus is on my phone. Dane had messaged me to meet him here at midday. I have an ache in my stomach. I already know what this is about. The lump in my throat blocks the sobs for now. I don’t want to work myself up if I’ve read the entire situation wrong.
My head tips up and my breath leaves me as Dane makes his way toward me. His dark eyes are lowered; there’s still hurt there. He shouldn’t be the one hurt. I was the one put out like a feral cat. His mouth is turned down. The guy who usually brightens my day is about to destroy me—I can tell by the look on his face.
He comes to a stop in front of me. He doesn’t make any attempt to reach for me. I ache to throw myself at him and forgive him for this morning. I need to be strong. It’s always been a possibility that things wouldn’t work between us. I desperately want them to, though.
“Hey,” he says, his voice low and void of emotion.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” I swallow my fears and try to get this sorted as quickly as possible—rip the Band-Aid off.
Dane’s eyes fall to the ground. My heart plummets to the pavement with a resounding crack. I’m sure everyone around us heard my heart break.
Tears brim in my eyes as reality sinks in. It’s not how I thought this would play out. My hand furiously brushes away the escaping drops. It was only this morning that I put the choice to him. I thought he’d choose me.
“Why?” I can’t help the hiccup that seizes my throat.
Dane stares at me. His face is an unreadable mask. I want to stomp my feet and throw a massive tantrum, but he chose a public place to do this for a reason. No doubt so he wouldn’t be able to hold me, and I wouldn’t be able to try to hug him.
He tugs at his backpack straps sitting over his shoulders. I drink in his appearance like it’s the last time I’ll be able to partake of his particular flavor. His white tee clings to his washboard body, and his basketball shorts hang on his hips. And then there’s that hair. As if he knows what I’m thinking about, he reaches up before running his fingers through his dark-brown waves. I want to run my fingers through it again.
“We shouldn’t have to hide this.” He gestures between us. “It’s for the best,” he mutters again, as though he’s trying to convince himself. He turns to leave; his step falters. My feet automatically move to him, hoping he glances a look back to me and tells me this is all a joke. His shoulders drop. He walks away slowly at first and then his stride picks up.
I’m left standing in the courtyard. People stream past me, oblivious to my heartbreak.
I stare at Dane’s back as he walks away, taking my heart with him. Does he even care how much this hurts? I collapse onto the bench. Thankfully, it’s here to catch me, because now he isn’t. How could he do this to me? This is my own fault, I guess. I pressured him. Perhaps I should have left things the way they were. The question is, would I have been happy to continue like that? The answer would be no. No relationship should be kept a secret. It should be sung from the rooftop of the tallest building.
I honestly thought we had