Page 330 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol 4
His eyebrows lowered even further. “I’m not seeing anyone else.”
“But when I told you that our first kiss wasn’t my first kiss ever you said it was fine because we weren’t exclusive…”
“Brooklyn, I said that because you told me you kissed someone else. You wouldn’t even tell me who it was. What the hell was I supposed to say?”
I pressed my lips together. “So you weren’t dating anyone else?”
“Of course not. I really like you, Brooklyn. I have no time to think about kissing other girls because you’re all that I think about.”
“I didn’t know that.” I felt like such an ass. This whole time he had only been seeing me? I tried not to think about all the times I had hooked up with Matt.
He shook his head. “I guess I should have told you I was mad that you kissed someone else. But I didn’t want to come off like this super possessive guy. That’s not me.” He shoved his hands into his sweatpants pockets. “Itwasn’tme. But just thinking about you doing that really messed with my head. I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend. I wanted to make it exclusive. But you keep pulling back. I didn’t want to freak you out by asking when it didn’t seem like you were ready. And now you’re pulling back more anyway.”
I wanted to cry but I blinked fast so none of my tears would spill. If I had known that he hadn’t been kissing other girls, would it have changed anything? I didn’t know. Probably. But it was too late. I’d already kissed another boy…a lot. A lot a lot. I couldn’t undo it. And I couldn’t undo how I felt about Matt. “I’m sorry.”
“I thought you hated that phrase.” He smiled.
And I laughed because the tension needed to escape somehow. “I do.”
He just stared at me, like he was waiting for me to say something else.
But I didn’t know what else to say.
“Does me telling you that change anything?” Felix asked. “If I asked you right now to be my girlfriend, would you sayyes? Because I’m asking. Brooklyn Sanders, will you be my girlfriend?”
As soon as he asked, my initial thought was to say yes. It’s what I’d been waiting for. It’s what I wanted. I just wasn’t sure I wanted it with him anymore. The knot was back in my stomach. Maybe I really wasn’t ready to date anyone. Maybe all I actually needed was friendship from both Matt and Felix. “Everything I said before was true. I’m really struggling. None of this has been easy for me.”
“I know.” He took a step forward. “But why can’t I be the one you lean on through all of it?”
Because I already leaned on Matt all night.And I couldn’t tell Felix that. I didn’t want him to ever find that out. I didn’t want to hurt him. “You can. As a friend.”
“I’ll always be your friend, Brooklyn. But don’t think for a second that I don’t want it to be more. I’ll be waiting, whenever you’re ready.” He smiled and reached out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t know when I’ll be ready. I’m not asking you to wait. Really I’m telling you to date other people.”
“No thank you,” he said.
I laughed.
“I’d rather just hang out with my friend…if that’s okay?”
“I’d like that.”
He closed the distance between us and hugged me. My stomach still felt uneasy. He’d agreed to be just my friend. That’s what I wanted. But I hadn’t expected it like this. Knowing that I’d been the only one he was seeing. Knowing he was waiting for me to change my mind. Him being my friend felt heavy. Or maybe I just felt weighed down because I still had a favor to ask him. And I didn’t deserve anything from him. He was too good. I was a liar. And a cheat. I didn’t want to be those things. I hugged him back. I didn’t want to let go. “There’s one more thing we need to talk about.”
He pulled back so he could look down at me. “You’re not breaking up with me as a friend now too, are you?”
I laughed. “No. Definitely not. I have a small favor to ask you though.”
“Okay…” He didn’t sound excited about this development.
“You can’t ask why. And you also can’t tell anyone I asked you.”
“So you just want me to agree to this favor blindly without any questions?”
“Yes.”
He smiled down at me. “You do realize that maybe it would have been better timing to ask me this before you broke up with me?”
