Page 39 of Beautiful Lies
It looked like it had pained him to say those words. “Did Eden put you up to this?”
He shrugged. “She made me see the error of my ways. But I’m serious. I’m proud of you. You’re doing good.”
I’d waited a long time to hear those words, and now I wasn’t sure how to handle his praise. I rubbed my hand over my chest. “Thanks.”
He nodded and fixated on a spot over my shoulder. We sucked at this warm and fuzzy shit and now neither of us knew what to say or do next.
“Do me a favor?” I asked.
Killian’s eyes narrowed. He crossed his arms over his chest, widening his stance. I smothered a laugh. Good old Killian. Always on the defensive.
“Cash that check I gave you.”
He rolled his shoulders and relaxed his stance. “I don’t need the money. Put it into your business.”
“If you don’t need it for yourself, put it into your program. It’s not just about the money. It’s about taking responsibility for my actions.” The check I’d given him covered the amount he paid for my rehab and the cash I’d stolen from him over the years to fund my addiction. To say that I wasn’t proud of stooping so low was the understatement of the century, and I needed him to understand that. All the rest of it… what had happened last year, I couldn’t do a damned thing about it. But this was something I could make good on. “It’s important to me.”
Killian studied my face for a few seconds before he nodded. “Okay.”
I let out a breath of relief. One more item to tick off the long list of amends I needed to make. “Thanks.”
His phone buzzed, and he checked the screen. “I’m supposed to invite you to dinner tomorrow night. You free?”
It sounded like no big deal, and maybe it should have been perfectly normal for him to invite me to his home for dinner. But it was a first. I knew this was Eden’s idea. But Killian was going along with it. That gave me hope. “Yeah. But I’ll be late. The shop closes at nine. Is that okay?”
“I don’t get home until then so yeah, it works.”
I exited the gym, feeling lighter and better-equipped to handle all the shit going on in my life. Killian was taking tentative steps to be supportive, and that meant more to me than I could ever put into words.
* * *
I parkedmy bike in Killian’s underground garage and retrieved the box of chocolate truffles, Eden’s favorite, from the bungee net. Luckily, the box was still intact. Killian raised his brows. “You brought Eden chocolates?”
“You’re not married yet. I’ve still got a shot with her.”
“In your dreams.”
“She’s always in my dreams,” I said, goading him.
He scowled at me. “She’d better not be.”
I chuckled. Eden was great, but I loved her like a sister.A sister. I pushed thoughts of Keira Shaughnessy out of my head as I followed Killian into the elevator. “You take an elevator to the third floor? You’re getting lazy in your old age,” I joked. He spent twelve hours a day in his gym, teaching classes and training amateur fighters. Lazy wasn’t a word anyone would ever use for Killian.
He gestured with his hand. “You’re welcome to take the stairs.”
“I’m good,” I said as the doors closed. The elevator stopped at the lobby and the doors opened to the girl who really did visit me in my dreams, an enormous bouquet of snapdragons in her hands.
“Fuck,” Killian muttered.
“Nice to see you, too,” Ava said. “Thanks for the welcome.”
“I didn’t know you were invited,” Killian said. By the look on his face, he wasn’t happy about it either. Killian endeavored to keep me and Ava separated. Our screwed-up relationship fucked with his head, as he’d told me on numerous occasions.
“Eden’s done it again,” Ava said, turning her back to me and Killian.
“Looks that way,” I said, silently thanking Eden for meddling. Killian shot me a look. I shrugged.Not my fault, dude. Take it up with your wife-to-be.
“Were you in on this?” Ava asked the elevator door.
