Page 21 of Valentine's Miracle

He huffs, stepping around me to the bathroom. “We need to address that jealousy of yours. It’s not healthy to bottle it up; you have to release the evil energy, or you’re going to grow horns.”

I fling the towel at his face, and he sputters with his tongue sticking out. He glares at me, but I match him with a more ferocious one. I can control the severity of my glares, and it’s made my life easier than letting people know how vexed I am.

Not two minutes later, Sebastian comes stumbling out and face red from the shower. I sit on the bed, researching this Fyodor man, and everything comes back as normal. No red flags are raised, but my heart still wishes there is an excuse to get Victoria away from his room.

She belongs in this room with me and without the third wheel Sebastian.

A tremor in my hand rocks the small words on the scene. My eyes widen at the thought and I immediately shake it away.

Focusing on memorizing the information of Fyodor, I list all the things that had been made public knowledge.

He’s the typical rich boy that grew up in a mansion with a maze for a garden, private tutors and private schools, and a leg up in the world that boost up his wealth even more. He never had any struggles in his life, and he has always had his family’s name and money to save him, but that’s the only information I have found on the internet.

Not everything I read on the internet is true, and I could use my access to get into Sebastian’s files so I can look at the information he gathered on Fyodor, but I trust that Sebastian would have told me if there was something off about Fyodor.

He would never put Victoria in harm’s way; not even infatuation can put a blind on his eyes.

“Well, lover boy?” Sebastian taps his foot on the ground.

I click my tongue. “What?”

“Aren’t we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”

“We aren’t,” I dully say back.

“Bottling up your feelings isn’t healthy,” he starts anyway without any regards to what I just said. “They’re consenting adults; they can do whatever they want.”

“I know they are.” It’s hard to admit it. I’m in this cloud of denial, and it’s tearing my mind apart with the endless scenarios in my head as to what is going on five floors above us.

“Maybe if you’d talk to Tori, you wouldn’t be so miserable.”

“I’m fine,” I ground out, hand gripping my phone.

“Believe it or not, I have been in love too. I know exactly where you are right now, and it’s not fun to let those thoughts be your friend.”

Sebastian says he’s in love every other week because one of the women suits his taste more than others. I take his words with a grain of salt as he’s just unbelievable.

“I know you’re in love with Tori; it’s so obvious that only she doesn’t see it and you just choose not to see it. You’re hurting yourself in the long run, and she is hurting too. Tori looks at you as if you broke her heart.”

She broke mine. I want to say. “You’re seeing things.”

“If that’s what you think, then you have no use for sight.” He plops down on the chair, facing me with a groan, rubbing the back of his neck to relieve the crack between his joints.

“Have you tried talking it out?” His suggestion is outrageous.

Of course, I haven’t. I’m a coward that only likes to run away from the problem because the only time I faced it head-on, it was disastrous and landed me in this position with her.

“Ah, you didn’t,” he comments, sniffing and shuddering as his hair is still wet. “Every minute you’re here, debating and shutting yourself out of the opportunity to be with Victoria, is resulting in the loss of all the possible chances you can be with her.”

The screen on my phone shuts off, leaving a black screen reflecting my face and it’s a damn hideous sight. I’m not the impassively grouchy Silas that everyone knows me as, but the reflection shows a vulnerable man who’s hurt and scared.

I am scared. I’m so scared of letting her into my life and into my heart again that I choose to shut her out before the inevitable happens.

I’m sick of being a coward, always thinking of the negative aspects of the outcome if I confront her again and face the origin of this broken friendship. I have nothing to lose just by asking her one more time, and it would be the last before I put this to rest and end that chapter of the anguish in my life.

Avoiding the problem won’t make it go away; it’ll only grow and grow until it turns into a monster that I have no ability to conquer.

I stand from the bed, finding my shoes and ignoring the voice of the other man in the room. The room key is in my hand and digging into my palm with vigor as I approach the door. Sebastian yelps and stumbles behind me with his shoes smacking loudly on the patted flooring.

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