Page 57 of Mine for a Moment

“I’m sorry,” I murmur as we walk into one of my favorite ice cream shops, the one Archer bought for me. I almost expected it to be closed, like it is every time Theo and I try to visit, but it’s open today. “I’ve just had a lot going on, and we haven’t really had a chance to properly catch up.” The burst pipe and us moving in with Archer barely registers in light of everything that’s going on with Tyra. There’s so much he doesn’t know, and I’m not sure where I’d even begin to explain.

He sighs and lets go of me as we sit down. “I can hardly blame you since I haven’t even told you that Kristen and I broke up three weeks ago. She moved out and went back home.”

I freeze and look up.“What?”

Theo nods, his gaze roaming over my face. “I’ve been meaningto tell you, but each time I tried to take you out to dinner, something came up and you canceled.”

I reach for him, my hands wrapping around his arms. “I’m so sorry, Theo. Are you okay?”

He looks into my eyes, and that expression…it’s one I’ve seen in Archer’s eyes often. It’slonging. “It wasn’t at all what it seemed. I tried, but she and I…we just weren’t meant to be.”

The server takes our order, and we both fall silent when she walks away. I’m not quite sure what to do or say. I don’t want to pry, and I’m not sure how to console him. “I’m really sorry it didn’t work out,” I tell him, my voice soft. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”

“Yes,” he says, reaching for my hand. “There’s something I need to ask you, and I need you to answer me honestly.”

I nod, nerves buzzing through me. “What is it?”

“There’s something she said when we ended things, and it just got me thinking. Kristen told me she realized that what she wanted was a version of me that wouldn’t ever belong to anyone butyou. She told me she fell for a part of me I’d never give her because she isn’t you, and it became clear to her that no one could ever take your place in my heart. She was tired of coming second to you when you weren’t even in the room.”

The words hit me hard, and my heart begins to ache when I realize I made Kristen feel the way Tyra is making me feel. The parallels feel like some kind of bad karma, and I smile humorlessly. I couldn’t maintain my friendship with Kristen after I found out she went after Theo despite knowing how I feel about him, so what does that mean for Tyra and me? If she finds out, I won’t just hurt her. I’ll lose her.

Theo squeezes my hand and sighs. “Before she left, there’s one thing she asked…Kristen asked me to really think about why I never fully gave her a chance and why you distanced yourself the momentwe started dating, why it seemed like you didn’t want to be around us, almost like you didn’t want to see us together.”

My heart begins to beat a little faster, my stomach tightening nervously. “I…I distanced myself because I didn’t want to stand between you two, Theo. I didn’t want our friendship to affect your relationship.”

He places his free hand over our joined hands, pulling them to his chest, his eyes on mine. “Is that all it was, Serenity? Or were we both just too scared to face our feelings?”

Forty-Seven

Archer

I glance at Tyra’s sleeping face and carefully slip out of bed, my heart heavy. She can’t sleep if I’m not right there with her, reminding her that I’ll be there to protect her, and fuck, I want to be there for her, but at what cost?

I didn’t even feel like I had the right to beg my own girlfriend not to go out with the one man who could take her from me, couldn’t grab her hand and ask her to choose me. All I could do was stand there as he wrapped his arm around her, smiling at her in a way he never did before—like he finally realized how fucking special she is.

I try my best to be quiet as I slip out of my guest room, glancing over at Ezra on the sofa as I pad over to my own bedroom, the one Serenity has been sleeping in. He stirs, and for a moment I’m sure he’ll sit up like he usually does, but then he turns, seemingly falling back asleep.

My heart sinks when I walk into my bedroom and find it empty. It’s nearly midnight, and she still isn’t home. My thoughts begin to spiral as I imagine where she might be, what she might be doing with him.

I slip into bed, my eyes falling closed when her sweet scent fills my senses, and I inhale deeply, reveling in the remnants of her presence. She has no fucking idea how much I miss her, how miserable I’ve been without her. My days aren’t complete without our conversations, and the distance between us is fucking unbearable. She won’t reply to my text messages, won’t look at me at work, and when she is home, she barely leaves her room. I’m losing her, and I don’t know if I have the right to hold on the way I want to.

Time seems to move slowly as my mind tortures me with thoughts of her with Theo, of her showing him everything I taught her, kissing him the way she knows I like. My heart is in fucking tatters by the time the door opens, and I drink her in, taking in that flustered expression I didn’t put there, the twinkle in her eyes.

She gasps when she spots me, and I sit up, letting the sheet fall away as I lean back on my palms. “Archer,” she says, her voice betraying her surprise. “W-What are you doing here?”

My gaze roams over her body, and the tight black dress that envelops it. I don’t have to guess to know she’s wearing sexy stockings held up at her thighs, the very same ones that drive me completely wild. Did she show him something only I’d ever seen before?

“This ismybedroom, is it not?” I ask, my tone harsher than I’d intended.

She nods slowly and walks farther into the room, placing her handbag on my dresser before slipping out of her heels, her eyes moving over every part of the room but me.

Her body tenses almost imperceptibly when I slip out of bed and walk over to her, and it fucking destroys me to have her respond to me that way. She inhales shakily when I slide my hand around the back of her neck, my thumb resting along her jaw. “Look at me.” She keeps her eyes downcast, and pure sorrow settles in my gut. “Please look at me, darling.”

Serenity lifts her face, the same ache I’m feeling reflected in her eyes. “Don’t call me that,” she says, her voice breaking. “Do you have any idea what it does to me to hear you callherdarling, when I thought that name was just mine?”

My eyes fall closed. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, my forehead falling to hers. “I’m so sorry, Serenity.”

“Don’t be,” she says, her tone carrying a tinge of bitterness. She pushes against my chest, and I reluctantly let go of her.

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