Page 57 of Heartless Pucker in Love

“I can't hold you to that, Julian. You could leave here tomorrow and decide that you want to hold on to your career for a few more years. You’ve expressed annoyance with the attention you get, but you love what you do.”

“What if I love you more?”

My heart flipped. “Don’t say that. You might change your mind.”

He lifted a brow. “About my feelings for you? I don’t see that happening, sweetness.”

“I mean about your career. Besides, you could meet someone else. Some model or actress or something.” Those words were painful to get out. The thought alone made me want to hurl.

As if a switch had been flipped, his expression twisted into fury. He looked angrier than I’d ever seen him. “I get it now. This is about you not trusting me.”

“No. That’s not?”

“You still see me the same way everyone else does. How could you when I’ve let you in completely? I showed you who I really am.” Hurt surfaced from under his anger and guilt struck a chord of guilt in my chest.

“Julian?”

“I tell you I’m in love with you, and you think I’m going to go back to Canada to stick my dick into some other woman. Gee, your faith in me is fucking heartwarming.”

My jaw dropped. Okay, this conversation took a crazy wrong turn. “That’s not even…” I huffed, my own temper rising. “You know what? Yeah, maybe I am worried that you’ll be tempted by another woman in your celebrity circles.”

He practically snarled at me. “I think I’m done listening to you insult me for tonight.” He turned to jab the button to bring down the partition with too much force. “Change of plans, my man, we’re going home. I mean, she’s going home.” He glared daggers at me. “Alone.”

I returned his dirty look. “You should be happy I haven’t latched on to you so you’re free to do whatever you want. You can have fun with groupies between games, Mr. Hotshot.”

A growl rumbled in his chest, and he glared harder. I snorted. Okay, I can admit that I was wrong for riling him up further. I should have calmed him down and explained to him what I really meant but my insecurity didn’t allow me to. Why would he wait so long to get back to a girl in a small town when he had the world at his feet? He said he loved me but I thought I might as well save us both the heartache when, in a few months, he might regret making me any promises.

“What is it about prom nights ending in disaster?” I heard him say under his breath.

I ignored him. He was right, but this time I think I was the one who broke his heart because he wouldn’t even look at me.

* * *

“I think I made a huge mistake.”

The room went quiet. Ruby had half of a strawberry danish in her mouth when she froze to look at me. She was on a mission to scoff down as many of Tessa’s pastries as she could before returning to school even if it meant turning into a whale?her words. She looked ridiculous, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t so miserable.

Tessa had a mug halfway to her lips when she paused. Cass looked up from her laptop screen. “Are you waiting for an invitation to tell us what you’re talking about?”

I rolled my eyes at my snarky sister. It was barely seven, but we’d all gathered in Tessa’s kitchen. Her food just called to us, lured us to her place at any hour and she didn’t mind. “I made a mistake letting Julian leave. I mean letting him leave the way he did.”

“Oh no. What happened?” Ruby mumbled with her mouth still full.

This time I did smile. “Don’t choke, Rubes.”

She swallowed. “It’s okay if I do since there’s a nurse in the building.” She winked and gave me a once over in my scrubs then went back to stuffing her face. I headed here after a shift at the hospital.

I chuckled. My youngest sister could bring a smile out of anyone, in any state of misery. “We fought before he left.”

“What? You mean after he went out of his way to make things with the first prom right? You two fought this time around?” Cass shook her head. “Nice going, April.”

I gasped. The secret I kept about prom ten years ago was fully out of the bag. “Why would you assume it’s my fault?”

“Because you’re a Bennet,” Ruby answered matter-of-factly. “You let Mom ruin your relationship, didn’t you? It almost happened to Lucy.”

I scoffed. “No, I did not let our dead mother come between Julian and me.” Letting out a long groan, I dropped my forehead to the counter. “This is all on me,” I wailed. Julian left one week ago, and I hadn’t heard from him since. That brought me to tears because I think I lost him for good over my stupid need to make things easy for him...and maybe for me too. But, this feeling of regret and heartache was not easy.

“Oh, honey.” Tessa, always ready to provide comfort much like me, was the first to reach my side. She rested her palm on my shoulders. “It couldn’t have been all your fault.”

---