Page 19 of Leave Before I Love You
“I’ll have to take your word for it. My one experience with skydiving is a little…tainted…I’d say.”
I snort.Uh, yeah.“So, whatdoyou like to do? I know you like to dance at the clubs, and if Beau’s stories are anything to go by, I know you like Starbucks. What else do you like?”
“I like fashion. High-end stuff, obviously, but I’ve seen some really unique pieces coming out of the U of M fashion program, and I tend to keep up with that.”
“That’s cool. Why don’t you try to do something with that?”
She scoffs, shaking her head. “Yeah, okay. BecauseAvery Bankstrying to be serious about anything wouldn’t be the biggest joke in Miami.”
I frown. “Why would it be a joke?”
She lets out a short laugh, but there’s no humor in it. “Comeon, Henry. My entire life, Beau has been the successful one, the overachiever, the one everyoneexpectsto do great things. Me? I play my part. I’m the fun one. The wild one. The one people invite to parties, not boardrooms.” She shrugs like it’s no big deal, but something about the way her voice tightens tells me otherwise. “No one’s ever expected me todoanything, so I never bothered pretending like I would.”
I study her for a second, catching the way she won’t meet my eyes. “That’s a load of shit.”
Her head snaps up. “Excuse me?”
“You’re smart as hell, Avery. You could do anything you wanted. And you know it.”
She scoffs again, but this time, it’s weaker. “Even if that were true, no one would take me seriously.”
I shake my head. “You ever think maybe you don’t take yourself seriously first?”
She flinches—barely, but I catch it.
For a second, she looks like she might say something. That maybe I’ve hit a nerve too deep for her to ignore. But then she plasters on that effortless smirk, the one she’s perfected over the years, and flicks her wrist like she’s brushing the whole conversation away. “Well, lucky for me, I don’tneeda job, right? Daddy’s money and all.”
I don’t let her get away with it, though. “Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something for yourself.”
Avery rolls her eyes, but I see the flicker of something else beneath the surface. Something unsure. Something that tells me maybe, just maybe, she’s thought about this more than she lets on.
“We’re going to get out of here,” I say softly, finding her hazel eyes and holding them even when she seems like she wants to fight it. “I know sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, and that it feels like we’ve been here forever, but I’m confident thisisn’tour eternity. We sure as hell shouldn’t plan like it is.”
She chews her lip, her eyes turning shiny with unshed tears. “I really hope you’re right.”
“I am,” I say and try to make myself feel as confident as my words sound. “I mean, hell, you’ve got the boyfriend to go back to, right?”
“The boyfriend,” she says slowly, hiding her eyes from me by looking at her lap. “Yeah. And I mean, you have someone too. What’s her name?”
My chest feels tight with discomfort as I think about Ashley—my girlfriend whom I’ve only been with a short time and have thought about exactly zero times since we got on this island. She’s a nice girl, but I know if I’m honest with myself, I’m only with her because all my friends have someone, and I don’t want to be the odd man out.
Being the only single guy of the whole group was starting to grate.
“Ashley.”
“Well…there you go. I’ll go back to Justin and you’ll go back to Ashley, and…we’ll carry on. One day. I guess.” She groans. “All right, enough of this. I’m going to go for a swim. Want to come?”
I shake my head. “Think I’ll go ahead and cook this other fish.”
She nods, shucking her sweater to reveal her bikini, and wades into the water, diving into the incoming wave when it hits.
And I find myself exhaling, scrubbing a hand down my face and wiping at my eyes to keep from staring at her perfect body in her bikini.
She’ssofucking beautiful.
And Ireallyshouldn’t be thinking about that. Or the fact that I’m finding out that Avery is so much more than beauty.
But every day we’re here, I feel it creeping in—thisthingbetween us. This pull.
