Page 89 of False Start

“Of course, you two would elope,” Julep said. “Is this just because you didn’t want to have to wear a frilly dress, Novo?”

Zeke sucked his teeth and leveled a look at his friends. “This girl wore her damn leggings.”

“We were hiking!” Riley defended.

The chaos continued through the night, and I found that I reallyhadstarted feeling better. Everything that had happened earlier with my mom was compartmentalized and shoved away for the moment. Kyle and I danced and laughed, and when the guys pulled him away for shots, the girls tugged me over to the photo booth.

The night was winding down when the DJ put on a slow song, and Kyle slid his hand into mine, dragging me out to the middle of the dance floor. We smiled at each other as his hands found my waist and mine threaded around his neck, both of us finding rhythm in a slow sway.

“It’s kind of crazy,” he said, shaking his head as his eyes washed over mine.

“What is?”

“Two weeks ago, you were just a memory. And now…”

I swallowed. “I can’t believe how fast this has all happened. I mean, Ihatedyou. I never wanted to see you again. And then you showed back up in my life, and… it just feels like a whirlwind. One moment I’m just your agent, then I’m your fake girlfriend, then you’re meeting my son, and then I’m here and nothing feels fake anymore and I just… I don’t…”

“I know,” Kyle said, thumbing my jaw with his brows furrowed. “We can slow down. We can pull back. We can be just friends, whatever you need.” He paused, chewing his bottom lip. “Are you ever going to tell me why you hated me?”

I closed my eyes, my throat impossibly tight.

“Is it because of what happened with my parents that night? Did… didyourparents make you say what you did?”

I frowned. “What do you meansay what I did?”

His jaw tightened. “That you wanted me to stay away from you. That you never wanted to see me again.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Because that confirmed what I suspected.

His parents never told him I was pregnant.

They told him I wanted him gone.

And then, he left.

I felt myself hyperventilating, each breath harder to take than the last as it all sank in.

Oh, God.

“I know you were mad at me before the party though,” Kyle added, speaking faster like he was onto something. “You were off that whole week. I tried to talk to you, but you wouldn’t let me in. And then—” He framed my face. “What did I do? What happened?”

I shook my head, tears blurring my vision. I was so overwhelmed, so devastated, so…angry— but that emotion wasn’t strong enough to trump the others, not right now.

I buried my face in his chest, trying and failing not to fall apart.

“Mads,” he croaked, holding my head to him. “You’re breaking my fucking heart right now.”

“Not as much as I’ve already broken my own.”

“Talkto me,” he begged.

I shook my head on a sob but held onto him just as tightly. “Not here.”

Kyle pulled back, holding my gaze a moment before he nodded. Then, he wrapped his hand around mine and tugged meoff the floor, leading the way to our table where my clutch and his jacket still were.

“Where are you going?” Mary asked when we whizzed past her and Leo, her brows furrowing when she saw my no-doubt blotchy and tear-stained face.