Page 27 of Beautifully Complicated

That’s a terrifying thought. One I should have considered before moving across the country. Although now that I’m here, maybe instead of thinking of this as an opportunity to find what I lost, I should be thinking of this as a fresh start.

Daniel’s not bad looking. His brown hair doesn’t look as silky as Aiden’s blonde locks, and his hazel eyes lack the swirling intensity of Aiden’s amber ones, but overall the combination is flattering. His build is appealing, tall and trim like Aiden, and he flushes the same way Ai—

Dammit.

How can I start fresh when I can’t even look at another man without comparing him to Aiden?

Focus, Kier.

Booting up my computer, I try to log into the school portal to access my email. Classes start next week, and I should make plans to meet with my assistants before then so we can go over their role.

I’m waiting for the little wheel to stop spinning—does it ever just take you right to the inbox without a wait—when there’s a sharp knock on the door.

Please don’t let it be Daniel.

I get out of my chair with a heavy sigh and cross the room, grasping for an excuse that will get rid of whoever it is with the utmost speed.

But when I get the door open time stops.

Aiden.

He looks just as I remember him, minus the dark circles under his eyes, but even those don’t detract from his angelic beauty. If anything, they just make me more determined that I should be with him, so I can make them go away.

My lungs reach capacity for the first time since I woke up alone, though the air doesn’t stay in them for long. It comes out with a breathy “Leanbh” as I yank him inside, slam the door, and crush my mouth to his.

Chapter eight

Aiden

The lips on mine are the first physical contact I’ve had with another person since I left Kier’s room, and they’re so rejuvenating they bring tears to my eyes.

I knew I was drowning. Numb. I had been ever since realizing Bennet was in love with Damien, and instead of finding the surface after my night with Kier I kept sinking deeper. Walking away from him… God. He was supposed to be a fantasy. An escape from the shitshow my life had become. I was never supposed to catch feelings.

Nor was he.

And curled next to him in the darkness of his hotel room, his arm protectively draped around me, there was no doubt in my mind we both had.

I could see it in the way his eyes seemed to peer straight into my soul. Feel it in his tender caress. Hear it in his words.

Leanbh

I looked it up. It’s the Irish word for baby. The whole time we were making love—true, that’s not how it started, but what it became—he was calling mebaby.

Dream come true, right? No-name college kid snagging the attention of one of his idols, the chance to live happily ever after?

Too bad the whole night was based on a lie.

Kier thinks we were two strangers. If he knew I was an admirer long before I offered to buy him that drink…

I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the disappointment on his face when he learned the truth. So, I took the coward’s way out. I left like a thief in the night. And I’ve been living in a fog ever since.

I thought I was numb after realizing Bennet was in love with Damien, but in the months since walking away from Kier… I now know I didn’t understand the meaning of the word. Still, numb had become my default setting over a month before that fateful night, so nothing was really different after. It was just…more. More emptiness, more loneliness, more nothingness.

My roommates, which now includes Damien—I saw that one coming a mile away—think I’m just overworked. Busting my ass to juggle classes and work and preparing for what comes after graduation. They don’t know I’m just going through the motions, barely scraping by, because for one night after I thought my heart was broken it was whole, and now it’s shattered.

“Aiden. Leanbh.” Kier mumbles against my lips, tongue probing until they part enough for him to enter. A haunting cry rumbles up my throat as I taste him again, memories of that night morphing with the present to bring me back to life.

Kier? Oh, God. This is real?

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