Page 34 of The One Who Risked it All

Eli shifted beside me, breaking the peaceful silence. “You know,” he said, his voice tinged with amusement, “I think little Linc might have a future as a stunt double. Did you see that leap off the couch?”

I couldn’t help but laugh, remembering the chaos from earlier. “Oh, don’t remind me! I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

“Nah, you handled it like a pro.” Eli chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Must be left over from your superhero days.”

Eli’s smile softened, and he turned to face me fully. The playfulness in his expression shifted to something more serious, more intense. My heart did a little twist in my chest, not dissimilar to the one Linc had taken off the sofa.

“Listen, Carla,” he began, his voice lower now. He took a deep breath, and I could see the tension in his shoulders. “I think we need to talk.”

I froze, my mind racing. Was this it? The moment we’d danced around for years, dodging real conversation and exchanging lingering glances? Part of me wanted to run, to hide behind the walls I’d carefully constructed. But another part, a part I’d tried so hard to silence, whispered,Stay. Listen.

As Eli gathered his thoughts, I found myself holding my breath, caught between hope and fear, the past and the possibility of a future I’d barely let myself imagine.

I nodded, unable to find my voice as Eli’s dark eyes locked onto mine. He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture so familiar it made my heart ache.

“I owe you an apology, Carla,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “For everything that happened back then, for the way I handled it... for hurting you.”

My breath caught in my throat. I’d imagined this conversation a thousand times, but nothing prepared me for the raw sincerity in his voice.

“I was a coward,” Eli continued, maintaining eye contact. “I let my dad’s expectations and my own insecurities dictate my actions. I should have fought for us, for you.”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. “Eli, I—“

He held up a hand, gently cutting me off. “Please, let me finish. I need you to know this.”

I nodded, my heart racing so fast I was sure he could hear it.

“You were never just a high school crush, Carla,” Eli said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “You were... you are... so much more than that.”

Memories flooded my mind – stolen kisses under the bleachers, shared laughter over inside jokes, the devastation when it all fell apart. The sweet mingled with the painful, a bittersweet cocktail of emotions I’d tried so hard to forget.

“I’ve carried you with me all these years,” Eli admitted, his usual cocky demeanor stripped away, leaving him vulnerable in a way I’d never seen before. “Every date, every choice... I’ve always measured it against what we had, what we could have had.”

Oh, Eli.If he only knew how many times I’d done the same thing.

I opened my mouth to respond but found myself at a loss for words. How could I put into words the complex tangle of emotions his confession had stirred up?

Eli took a deep breath, his dark eyes boring into mine with an intensity that made my knees weak. “I know my dad’s expectations have always been a cloud hanging over us, but I’m done letting that control my life. You’re worth any risk, Carla. Any fight.”

My breath caught in my throat. The old Eli, the one who’d always seemed content to play the role of small-town bad boy, was nowhere to be seen. In his place stood a man willing to defy everything for... me?

“I’m not asking for forever right now,” he continued, his voice low and earnest. “Just a chance. A real chance, without the baggage of our families weighing us down.”

A tiny spark of hope flickered to life in my chest, fragile but undeniably there. I wanted to believe him, wanted it so badly it almost hurt.

But my inner voice, ever the skeptic, piped up.Oh sure, Carla. Because people really change, right? How many times are you going to let that charming smile sucker you in?

I bit my lip, wrestling with the conflicting emotions. “Eli, I... I don’t know what to say. This is all so sudden.”

He nodded, a flicker of understanding passing across his face. “I know. I’m sorry if I’m overwhelming you. I just... I can’t keep pretending anymore. This week with you just reinforced how much I’ve been lying to myself about my feelings.”

My heart did a lazy somersault at his words. How long had I yearned for this kind of validation? To know that I wasn’t alone in carrying the weight of our past?

But trust... that was the real issue, wasn’t it? Could I truly open myself up again, risk my heart to the man who’d already broken it once?

I took a shaky breath. “It means more than you know to hear you say all this. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. We have so much history, so much...”

“Baggage?” he supplied with a wry smile.

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