Page 138 of Sweetheart: Part One

I wasn’t nesting.I pleaded with myself to believe that as I stacked the pillows into a tiny closet within the broad room.

I. Wasn’t. Nesting.

I just needed to hide.

I didn’t have a choice.

The problem was, I didn’t realise how screwed I was until it was too late.

DRAKE

I wantedmorewith Vex—I had since I’d stopped sleeping over in her room. And my nights were lonely without her. The nightmares that used to haunt me resurfaced, reclaiming power I’d tried to pretend they didn’t have.

Today she’d been fine until she hadn’t, sending me away and I hated how unsure I was. I hated how I worried that I’d never be enough, no matter how hard I tried. Did she regret that Rook didn’t want her tonight? Was I not enough to make up for it?

Ebony could feel my need. It was something old—something I hadn’t asked for in such a long time.

And through the bond, I felt a rare openness from him, whispering that he would be here for me today, just like he always had been.

I found him in the theatre.

Even the sight of him was enough to cool my nerves.

This location was predictable. One of Ebony’s favourite things to do when he was bored was to pull up movies we’d acted in and pick apart every fuck-up Rook had ever made.

I watched from the doorway as he rewound a part three times, head cocked.

Then he pulled his phone out and recorded the massive TV screen projected onto the wall. The ding of my phone as his video hit group chat was what alerted him to me.

He stared at me for a long moment, brows furrowed. It was like I could feel him prodding my end of the bond. Hopeful, almost? Confirming I was here for what we both knew I needed.

He leaned back on the couch and nodded to the spot beside him.

I crossed toward him and slumped down at his side, and Ebony muted the TV. Anxiously, I checked my phone, still not totally ready to face my shit.

The video he’d sent to our group chat had a text attached.

Ebony: Why the random southern drop? You sound like a Larry Masters rip off. Finnegan should have made you reshoot.

I snorted, then clicked the phone off. I glanced down to see Ebony’s hand beside me, palm up.

An invitation.

He would never be the sweet type. He’d never ask if I needed help, or if I was okay. And if I was ever in such dire straits that I needed him, I always appreciated that.

It had been getting worse since Vex had arrived. Not because there was anything wrong with her. Quite the opposite. She was perfect, and I… I swallowed, almost tumbling off that cliff again.

I didn’t deserve her…

I seized his hand in mine and let my end of the bond fall open completely. Ebony did the same, and I felt my pain collide with him in an instant.

Blades of disgust.

Self-loathing.

Anger.

His stillness swallowed them all.

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