Page 27 of Covetous

“She says we’re good, but I’m not buying it. I hurt her, and I’m unsure how to fix it while still being honest.”

“Vulnerability doesn’t come easy for Esme. Even if she’s hurting or angry, you have to read between the lines to decipher what she’s not saying.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

“You care about her, don’t you?”

“I do. We have fun together.”

I roll my eyes with a smirk. “Yeah, I know.”

“Not just that. She’s beautiful and spontaneous, and she accepts me for who I am.”

Why wouldn’t she? You’re perfect. “What do you mean?”

The corner of his lips twitches. “I can be a lot.”

I wet my lips. He’s not too much. He’s everything. But he’s also Esme’s. “Then it’s worth the work. And you can’t blame her for being guarded after all that was said.” Or not said.

“When we first got together, we agreed to have fun. I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I’m still not, and she knows that. I’ve told her.”

“Things change, Victor. People change, and feelings change. It sounds like you two still have some things to talk about.”

“But that’s the thing. She won’t talk to me.”

I furrow my brow. “I thought you talked all last weekend.”

He lets out a humorless laugh. “Nah. She won’t talk about it—not even the stuff she said about you and me.”

I clear my throat, my gaze drifting around the room. “She said she knows you’re over me, and she knows I’m over you. So?—”

“Over me? You were into me?”

My breath catches in my throat as a perplexed expression crosses his features. The confusion. The shock. And something else I can’t place. Anger? No. Maybe heat? No way.

Holy.

Fucking.

Shit.

He didn’t know. Esme never told him I used to be in love with him.

A knot forms in my stomach, and I rest my elbows on the counter, pressing my wrists against my forehead. “You didn’t know.” My eyes squeeze shut.

“When?” His voice is raw, mirroring the emotion in his eyes when I finally dare to meet them.

I take a deep breath and tuck my hair behind my ears, a nervous habit I thought I had outgrown. “Junior and senior year, mainly.”

He cocks his head to the side. “Mainly?”

“Maybe a little longer?”

He takes his hat off again, tossing it aside before stabbing a hand through his hair. “I had no fucking idea.”

“That was the plan.” The laughter on my lips falls away at the pained look on his face.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

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