Page 133 of Attached At Heart
“Always, Blake?” she finally breathed, the words coated in disbelief. “Why are you saying it like that? How was I supposed to have known?”
I risked a glance at her, and the mix of pain and shock on her face gutted me.
She was right. For years, I’d purposefully made sure it wasn’t obvious. But considering everything that had happened between us recently, I guess I’d been foolishly hoping for a reaction that didn’t have so much doubt in it.
“I told you that we needed my parents to believe this was more than just an elopement, that it wasn’t something sudden, and you told me you were going toconvincethem, Blake. What was I supposed to think? How was I supposed to know that—” She choked on the final words, almost like she couldn’t get herself to say “you’ve really been in love with me all this time.” Delaney covered her mouth with a shaky hand, and I’d never felt a stab to the chest quite like this one.
No wonder she thought it was just a story.
No wonder she’d looked at me at the dinner table like that when I was telling it.
I’d thought maybe there was hope and love and light in her eyes, but she’d just been playing along.
And now I…fuck.
“Never mind, Lane.” I swallowed past the emotion clogging my throat. “It’s fine, okay? Don’t worry about it.”
I stepped back, putting distance between us, but Delaney stepped forward, chasing me.
“No, Blake. Listen?—”
“Seriously, it’s okay.”
I turned around, ready to get in the car and put this painful moment behind me.
“Blake.”
I stopped in my tracks, closing my eyes. The way she said my name was sharper this time, and I couldn’t really blame her for being mad. I’d pushed things too far. The difference between reality and fiction had blurred too much, had gotten too jumbled, and it was my fault.
“Laney!” Bryan’s voice rang out, coming from the front steps. I looked back to see him waving her over.
“One sec, Bry!” she called before I heard her footsteps following me instead of going to him.
“Go be with your brother, Lane.” I shook my head. “You don’t get to see him enough, and I know how hard that is for you. I don’t mind waiting if you want to spend more time with him. I’ll be in the car.”
I turned to get behind the wheel, feeling Delaney’s gaze hot on my neck. As soon as I shut the door, she turned and walked toward her brother.
Tipping my head back, I closed my eyes and tried to calm the chaos in my brain. I couldn’t be entirely sure of how much time passed, but it wasn’t long before I heard the door open and smelled the sweetness of Delaney’s perfume. Or maybe it was just her fucking essence. I wasn’t sure. I’d never actually seen Delaney put on perfume. I just knew she smelled like that. It was mind-boggling and exquisite, and I didn’t know how I would ever manage to be less addicted to it and her.
I opened my eyes to find hers on me. It was a mix between a glare and a stare, and I didn’t know what to make of it. So I pressed my lips together and started the car.
The ride home began with a quiet roar. The silence and unease was deafening. The hum of the car and the pattering of rain as it began to fall—those were the only sounds until Delaney suddenly broke through the tension.
“I don’t understand how I was supposed to know,” she said, her voice small but hard. “I don’t know how it was supposed to be obvious that youalways?—”
She clamped her lips together, still unable to say it.
That wasn’t exactly a good sign for me.
“I know.” I tried to focus on the road, but fuck, it was hard. “And I’m sorry,” I added, despite badly wanting to clarify whether she was just stunned by how long I’d loved her or if she truly hadn’t seen my feelings for what they were at all, even in the last couple of weeks. But all I did was try to reassure her by saying, “It’s okay, Lane.”
“But—”
“We can just forget about it. Really.”
I hadn’t made it this far just to lose her because I’d said too much.
“You want to forget about it?” she echoed.
