Page 17 of Wild Child
He shrugged, but he didn’t take it back. “I am the only friend she has in this town, and I take that very seriously.”
“You’re the nice guy around here?”
“I guess so.”
I scowled. “I won’t break her heart.”
Jax’s brow had grown heavy. “You will. Even if you don’t mean to. She still cares for you, Dev. You have to see that. Why else do you think she’s so pissed off today? Ellie tells off the people she doesn’t care about. The ones she avoids are the ones she loves.”
My gaze drifted back to her. She warily smiled at Kimball from a runner’s lunge, her legs long and strong in a pair of tight black pants. A towel had mopped away her sweat, but she still had that devastating smile. Her natural uncertainty around people only added to her sense of appeal. It would be so easy to believe that she had once had feelings for me. That I hadn’t been the only one madly in love.
That was a dangerous road to go down without proof. For the millionth time, I forced myself away from it.
“I was stupid,” I admitted. “I shouldn’t have lied to her.”
“Duh.”
“But I had to leave.”
“Why?”
My nostrils flared. That wasn’t my story to tell.
Ellie had stood up and started to walk our way, stopping my thought process. Halfway across the mats, her gaze met mine. She stumbled slightly, and I couldn’t tell what the flash in her eyes meant. She’d been hard to read on a good day when we were inseparable.
Practically impossible now.
“I’m on her side, my brother.” Jax slammed a palm into my shoulder as he moved away. “Don’t mess her up and then leave again, or I’ll take it personally. You won’t ever want to come back then.”
A litany of curse words streamed through my head because he’d already voiced my greatest fear. I quieted them, but the questions invaded anyway. Was it wrong to sweep in, tell her how I felt, and then leave again? Was this about me, or her? It should be about her, but I couldn’t deny my own selfish interests.
Ellie had recovered her wits and kept walking, her gaze on the floor now. Kimball reluctantly ambled over to the class, but his eyes hadn’t left Ellie’s back. They darted to mine next, and I met them. My expression hardened. He kept my gaze. Something in his face didn’t sit right with me. He was harmless enough, probably, but I still didn’t like him.
Kimball turned away as Ellie slowed to a stop a few feet away from me. I turned to give her my full attention.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
With a jerk of my head, I motioned to the bag. “Great form.”
“Thanks.”
All right. The awkward conversation had returned.
“Listen, can I—”
“About yesterday—”
We both spoke at the same time, but she quieted first. A hint of amusement lingered in her half-raised lips before it faded into a frown. The fact that she hadn’t swept by with her middle finger in the air encouraged me.
“I’m sorry about surprising you yesterday.” I let out a breath, infusing as much honesty into it that I could. “Maybe it wasn’t fair, but I just wanted to explain myself. And now that I’m here, I want to know what it’s been like for you since I left. I want to . . . take responsibility for what I did.”
The words hurt to say, and they seemed to startle her. Was it the first time I’d taken responsibility for the fact that I massively broke her heart? Probably. I’d avoided her for years, unable to reconcile my true feelings over what I’d done. I’d been a coward then, but life had a way of changing.
No more cowards now.
She hesitated, then nodded. “That’s fine.”
