Page 86 of Synced to Us

I’m still alive.

My hands tremble in my lap. I blink rapidly, listening with my ears, tuning out all other senses except for his music and the building heat in my eyes.

Shoulders shaking, I try to hold in quiet sobs. I’ve missed him. I’ve missed him so much.

Wyn wrote all that, played all that, for me. A woman who doesn’t deserve that kind of softness.

A voice comes up behind me. Tendrils of my hair wisp around my cheek as he breathes. “It’s for you,” Wyn whispers in my ear. “My music’s always been for you.”

I glance up, afraid to turn around, looking to McKenna instead. Tears streak down her face, and she presses her hand to her heart as she nods encouragingly for me to turn around.

Look at him.

I turn in my seat but only get halfway before he lifts me up and sets me on my feet. I face his chest, tentative at first, but he curls a finger under my chin.

“Hi,” he says with a smile.

My lower lip trembles. I say with a mouth damp with tears, “You’re a terrible singer.”

His grin turns lopsided. “I know. But did I woo you, anyway?”

Phones flash as the moment is documented by strangers, but my periphery barely registers them. All I’m focused on is the crystal blue of his eyes, the lines of his smile, his combed-back hair, and scruffy chin.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” I admit.

Wyn purses his lips and nods. “Pretty fair assumption, considering how you said goodbye.”

I wince.

“But...” he adds, tilting my face back up. “I’ve gotten to know you, Dee Sparrow, despite our short time together. I’m well versed in fear and what it does to one’s sense of survival.” He angles his head. “I’m tired of being afraid. Aren’t you?”

“I’m afraid. I’m…afraid of you really getting to know me. The Dee who agreed to our fake relationship—”

“Couldn’t keep up with the reality of falling in love. I saw it all, Dee. It just took me some time to process that from the first moment I stepped into your office, both of us stopped acting. I couldn’t be a loser in your eyes, and you weren’t able to become an emotionless transaction in mine. We saw our true selves and the contract, if you want to keep calling it that, was void the instant I shook your hand.”

Someone breaths out an awwww in the background. My cheeks go hot at the truth.

“You were never less of a man because you lost your career,” I say, my brows growing hard at the thought of him, the guy who would rather see his family stable than succeed himself, considering himself a failure.

“Same goes to you, gorgeous.”

My argument stops short.

“See, we need each other. It took a figurative smack in the face for me to get it, but I thought you deserved less violent means. The song I wrote for you would do the trick at waking you up. I love you, Dee. I’m in love with you.”

A chorus of awwwwws strike up, McKenna’s loud sniffs included.

“I…”

“You don’t have to say it back,” Wyn says, sincerity making his eyes shine. “That’s not what I’m here for. All I’m here for is a chance.”

There’s that word again. Chance.

Could I allow myself to take it?

Wyn’s warm, calloused hands caress my shoulders and his thumbs massage my collarbone. It’s such a steadying feeling that I lean into it and close my eyes. It’d be so easy to forget and just fall. For Wyn to believe in me as this powerful woman who can conquer all, yet still be soft for him. Maybe it’s possible, if I… but could I? Would I make that kind of sacrifice?

“You should know…” I pause, readying to take the leap, but too much keeps my toes curled over the edge. “You shouldn’t love me until you understand everything. And I can’t let myself love you until you do.”

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