Page 119 of Starstruck

I let my hands wander to the tips of my hair. “Really?”

He nodded. “I actually wanted to ask you how you were... after everything?”

My brows knitted. “Everything?”

Henry shrugged, still lounging in the chair. “C’mon Goldie. Tristan, the news,the fact that he lied to all of us—”

“Oh, yeah.” I looked at him. “But I’m fine; not that there would beanything wrong with me anyway, but I’m fine.”

His smile worried me. “Well, that’s good.” He peeled his spine from the backof the chair, resting his forearms along the table. “And for what it’s worth, I think we can both agree that you’re better off without someone like that, someone who wanted to hide something like that.”

As if all the energy had drained from my body, I let my shoulderssink, a laugh that held not an ounce of humour falling from my mouth. I flexed my hands. “I swear, if one more person tells me what they think is best for me, I’m going to scream,” I mumbled to myself, but when I stared at Henry, I knew he’d heard me. “You barely know me, Henry, so excuse me if I ignore what’s just left your mouth, and I’ll be heading out if that’s okay with you.”

He shuffled his chair back and stood up, the scraping sound echoingaround the room. “Goldie, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I nodded at him. “You must just have a natural talent for it, then.” I dropped mypapers back on the table, the soft thud echoing. “Look, I’m sorry if I led you on or made you think I wanted something more with you. I did, at one point, but Tristan…”

I couldn’t put into words how perfect he was for me.

Henry started to pace towards me, his hands hanging by his side. “Ijust don’t get it. He’s a dick, and he’s entitled, and if it wasn’t clear from what the news said, he’s a bad influence, Goldie.”

I shook my head. “Why does everyone who barely spends time with him thinkhe’s a bad person? I just wish that everyone would stop judging him and see him for what he is.”

“What he is, Goldie, is a bad person.” Henry stepped closer, his shadowlooming over me. “And the only thing he was ever good for was getting me closer to you.”

I pulled my head back. “What do you mean?”

His shoulders lifted, as a smile spread across his smug face. “Let’s just say that,if he hadn’t followed you home like a stray, his secret would still be a secret.”

I watched as the blue in his eyes shifted from the baby kind to anavy, like I was floating in that part of the atmosphere where the sky met space. And when things should have started making sense, I was only filled with more questions.

I shook my head as I backed away from him. “It was you?”

Henry didn’t react; all he did was let his shadow hang over me. “We had a deal;I’d keep his dirty little secret if he stayed away from you, made you think I was what you needed, and sent you in my direction. And I thought he’d grown some brain cells when you asked if I was going to the Lions game, that he’d listened, that was until I’d heard he went home with you to play boyfriend.”

Finally, things were clearing in my head.

The week before I caved and asked out Henry, Tristan had barelyspoken to me... to anyone for that matter. And if he’d had this hanging over his head, then I’m not surprised in the slightest that he needed space. But Tristan never spoke to me about Henry, or tried to make me think that he was the guy I should have been crushing on.

He left me alone instead of lying to me about what a nice guy Henry was. He’dtold me weeks before that what an asshole he was, so the fact he didn’t push me towards him... it only confirmed in my head that his heart was nothing but pure gold.

I lifted my eyes to reach Henry, that smug smile plastered on his face. “Tristanis ten times the man you’ll ever be. Do you want to know why?”

His lip curled as he nodded his chin at me. “Enlighten me.”

I shook my head as I dared a step towards him. “Because he knows he’s mademistakes, and he knows that he hasn’t always made the right decision. He has humility, Henry. But you… I thought you were perfect, at one point in time, until you slowly showed me that regardless of the things you do, and the people you’ll hurt to get what you want, you’ll always think of yourself as a good guy, and ironically, that’s what makes you the worst type of person.”

I spat the words at him as I gathered my papers, my books, and my phone,before I shoved past him as I stormed away. I couldn’t make out what he called to me as I dove between the bookcases and got lost between the shelves, nor did I want to. I paced down the steps that led me down to the ground floor of the library, my arms clutching my things while I kept one eye on the staircase. I let the breath I didn’t know I was holding go once I walked through the double doors, the cool breeze from the hallways hitting me as I pushed them open, and I felt my heart simmering.

But as I rounded the corner and dared a look over my shoulder, I hit something.

“Fuckin hell—”

Someone.

I knew before I looked into his eyes that it was Tristan, the homely tone of hisvoice calming me and forcing me to wrap my arms around him as I sank into him. Tears that I’d been holding in since I stored away from Henry released the second I breathed in, breathed him in, realising that I was safe and home and protected.

I felt him shuffle underneath me as he tried to figure out what was happening,but as my shoulders began to shake, I felt him tug me closer and smooth out my hair.

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