Page 104 of Tell Me It’s Right

Hailey I have virtually no memories of. At the time, I’d assumed it was because she went to Liam’s old private school, and it’s not like the kids there tend to socialize much with the Edgewater public schools.

Of course I remember the first time I heard Leo use the wordsLiamandgirlfriendin a sentence, but social media wasn’t that big back then, and twelve-year-old me hadn’t honed her internet stalking skills yet.

“After she finished college, she went up to New York,” Liam continues. “Wanted to pursue modeling. We agreed to try the long-distance thing again. It seemed to be going well. She seemed more trusting, less controlling. I thought maybe it was because she’d grown up a little. Then I drove up to surprise her for Valentine’s Day, and realized she was seeing someone else. She apologized, of course. Promised it was a mistake. Just a one-time thing. I don’t know why I bought it. Why I was willing to still try after that. I was so…clueless. I actually thought that us always going back to each other meant something important.” He barks out a laugh that has no amusement in it. “But the final straw was when I found out she’d been seeing him the entire time. He helped her get a job. She knew him before she moved up there.”

I scoot closer to him on the couch until our legs touch. I can’t tell if he wants me to touch him, to talk. He seems barely aware that I’m here.

“And Leo…” He swallows hard. “What Leo thinks he saw after she and I broke up is me going out and sleeping around with basically every woman in town. Hailey was the only girl I’d ever been with. And after we broke up, I was fucking terrified I’d never feel like that for anyone but her. So I went out. I met women. I tried to force myself to feel something. I took a few of them home, but I could never bring myself to go through with anything. One-night stands felt so…detached.” His eyes flick to mine then away. “Except one. I tried it once, and it just made me feel worse. So, I, um, I think that’s everything. And if this is too much?—”

I throw my arms around his shoulders and pull him close. My chest shakes on my inhale, and I feel tears burning in the backs of my eyes, but the overwhelming emotion flooding my veins is rage.

“She’s so goddamn lucky I didn’t know all of that before seeing her tonight,” I whisper. “Or I probably would’ve punched her.”

He lets out a startled laugh.

“Does Leo know about…?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m sure he put some things together. He saw how much we fought and how often we broke up. But…”

“You’ve never talked to him about it.”

He shakes his head, and I run a hand down his hair. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. I guess…” The way he looks up at me, all of his usual ease and confidence gone, breaks my fucking heart. “Maybe I was embarrassed. And I think part of me believed a lot of the things she was telling me. About how things were my fault.That I was pathetic. And I just…didn’t want my best friend to think those things about me too.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, tears rapidly building in my eyes. “About tonight.”

“No, no, Gracie.” He cups my cheek.

“I don’t want to come between you and Leo. I never wanted?—”

“And I don’t want to come betweenyouand Leo. But it’s going to be okay.”

“How can you be so sure?” I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Leo that angry, seen him like that. Especially not directed at Liam. I figured telling him would make things weird, at least for a while, but I never thought…

“This was a shock to him. Leo’s always needed some time to process things. And I get where he’s coming from. He loves you and he’s worried about you and he wants to keep you safe. He just needs time to see that’s all I want too.”

I blink the tears away. “And if he doesn’t?”

“He will. I’m going to make him see that, Gracie. I promise you, I’m going to make things right with him. But I’m not going to walk away from this either.” He swallows hard as he looks from my eyes to my lips. “You know how I told you you’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time?”

“Yeah?”

His hands skate up and down my back, and I shiver as his fingers trace along my bare skin where my dress ends.

He shakes his head, looking up at me with something that looks like wonder in his eyes. “That wasn’t true. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Gracie Collins. The best thing.”

My nose burns at the threat of tears. “You’re my best thing too,” I whisper.

We lean in at the same time. I try to put everything I don’t know how to say into the way I kiss him. How much more he deserves. That he has nothing to be unsure or embarrassed about—shedoes. That he never should have had to shoulder all of this alone.

“I’m so sorry I ruined your birthday,” he whispers against my lips.

“You didn’t ruin anything.” I kiss him harder, deeper.

His hand tangles in my hair, and I straddle his lap, pulling myself as close to him as I can.

He groans low in his throat. Every part of me is somehow cold and on fire all at once. I have no idea what I’m doing. All I know is I don’t want to stop kissing him. I don’t want him to stop touching me. I don’t want to do anything in the world except this, this,this. The fervor he kisses me back with melts away any thoughts, any fears. This is a side of him I’ve never seen before, and now that I’ve gotten a taste, I’m dying to know every piece of it.

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