Harleigh
Guilt was a thick, sticky thing inside me, making it a little hard to breathe as Nix stared at me. Begging me to meet him halfway. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. I did.
Of course I did.
But everything was happening so fast. It was already time to leave him again. To go back to that world—their world—and pretend that my heart didn’t belong to a boy who was born and raised in The Row.
“Say it, B. I need to hear you say it.”
“I’m with you.” My voice wavered. “I am. I just…”
“I know, I fucking know, okay.” He pulled me into his arms and held me tight. “We’ll figure it out. But I need you to promise me that you won’t flake out on me.”
Nix gazed down at me, the way I’d always dreamed of. Things had been simpler back then though, and I couldn’t help but wonder how different things might have been if he’d only realized how he truly felt about me then… instead of now.
“Harleigh,” Celeste called. “We should go.” She was holding her cell phone, a frown etched into her face. “Dad texted.”
“Did he—”
“It’s okay. He just wants to know where we are and when we’re coming back.”
The heat that existed between me and Nix guttered out, and I inhaled a thin breath.
“I guess you need to go.”
“Nix…”
But his walls were already up, reinforced by everything that existed between us now.
My father.
Max.
Where I lived.
Where I went to school.
I’d been plucked out of The Row and deposited in the one place he hated more than anything. How were we supposed to just forget that?
The answer was, we couldn’t.
“It’s okay,” he said, grabbing the back of my neck and dropping a kiss on my head. “Go. I’ll text you later.”
“Thank you, for today. For everything.”
He gave me a small nod, the invisible tether between us stretching taut. I wanted to go to him. But I didn’t. Instead, I gave him one last lingering look before heading back over to Celeste.
“All set?” she asked me, noting that Nix didn’t join us.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“See you soon,” Chloe called after us. I gave her a small wave as I climbed into Celeste’s car.
“You good?” My sister eyed me carefully.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“If you say so.”