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“Sorry.” I offer a faint smile as her posture shifts. I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but I’ll take her calling me Bash again as a good sign. “I mean, I’m sorry for scaring you, but I’m sorry for everything else too.”

“How are you feeling?” she asks carefully.

I stuff my hands in my pockets, feeling self-conscious. “I’ve got a killer headache. Blake said it’s probably from Owen dropping me on the stairs last night.”

She tries to fight a smile, but it slips through. “I’m glad to see you made it in one piece. I was a little worried sending you with Owen, but you don’t seem too bruised,” she jokes before her smile fades. She takes a seat on the floor underneath the portrait she was just looking at. “How much do you remember?”

“Not a lot, if I’m being honest. The last thing I remember is the cab taking me to your house. Care to give me a refresher?” I ask, lowering myself to the floor, making sure to keep a few feet between us as I ignore the ache of my body. I hit more than my head based on how sore I feel.

“Well, you showed up a little bit after I’d fallen asleep really drunk, banging on the front door. I opened it, you kissed me, told me that you called off the wedding because Kiera’s pregnant. You apologized a lot and then fell asleep on my couch. I called my brother, and he came to get you.”

I remember kissing her and crying, but a part of me hoped I’d just imagined that. “Sounds like quite the night,” I murmur under my breath, and to my relief, she chuckles quietly.

“Can we have an actual conversation that doesn’t end in us fighting, or trying to hurt the other?” Thalia asks, watching me now. I nod once because it’s the least I can do after showing up at her door. “I’m sorry, Sebastian,” she says, catching me completely by surprise.

I’m sorry, what? “Why are you apologizing to me? I’ve been nothing, but a dick to you the past few months. You didn’t deserve anything I asked of you, or said to you. I’m so fucking sorry, Lia.”

Thalia doesn’t break our eye contact, but she fidgets with her hands nervously. “I knew Kiera cheated. I quit the wedding because I told her I’d only do it if she would tell you. Except I knew she wasn’t going to tell you, and I couldn’t be there knowing that you didn’t know the truth. I’m sorry because she cheated, and for whatever additional stress I put on your relationship.”

It feels like a blow to the chest that she knew and didn’t tell me, but at least I understand why she quit now. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask carefully, but then a second question slips out too. “How did you know?”

“I never wanted to keep it from you—you have to know that. I didn’t want you to lose Kiera, though. You love her, and that should have been enough for her, but it wasn’t your fault she cheated.” Thalia sucks in a sharp breath, and I don’t think it was until this moment that I realize how much she’s grown up. She didn’t tell me because she didn’t want me to lose Kiera? After all the awful things I’ve done, Thalia was still looking out for me.

“I don’t know who else’s fault it would be unless you held a gun to her head, and made her fuck someone else.”

She glances down at her lap, shaking her head. “Kiera and I had to go to the estate your wedding was at the morning after the gallery opening. I was so angry at you for not telling her the truth, and I’m not proud of it, but I told her everything when Kiera started asking me questions about what happened between us. She was really upset, and I felt awful so I went to the house that night to apologize. I knew she’d be home because Kiera said something about studying that night. They were in the living room screwing when I found them.”

Nick and Kiera? She cheated on me with Nick, her friend from class? I came home the day after they fucked in my house with a brand new ring for her, explanations, and then I sold my house to make her more comfortable. She let me do all of that knowing she’d slept with someone else.

“I should have told her the truth. You were right all along, Lia,” I say softly.

She shakes her head adamantly. “I don’t want to be right. I’m sorry for not telling you. A part of me didn’t think you’d even listen to me if I tried to tell you. I thought you and everyone else would say I was crazy and vindictive trying to break up the engagement. So I said nothing with the hope she would tell you.”

It makes sense when she explains it that way, and I can see it from her perspective. I probably would have done the same thing if I’d found out her fiancé was cheating on her. My blood boils at the thought of Thalia marrying someone else, which is entirely hypocritical of me. “I like to think I would have believed you, but I probably wouldn’t have. I never thought Kiera was capable of…cheating,” I admit slowly.

“It’s hard to think badly of someone you love,” Thalia says calmly, crossing her legs. “I hadn’t decided what I was going to do about it, and then Kiera came to get Zeus. She tried to justify it by comparing us, and I just about lost my shit because there’s no excuse. She called me a bitch, and I quit and decided to keep Zeus. Kiera begged me not to quit, but my condition was she tell you what she did. She didn’t even care about Zeus, and it just made me so mad. Then she asked if I told anyone, and I shut the door in her face.”

Kiera told me that Thalia was a bitch to her, but really, Lia was just calling Kiera out on her shit. “I’m surprised youdidn’t punch her.” It’s the only thing I can think of to say, and I think it’s justified given her hot streak in the past. Fuck, I guess I should apologize for this too. “I’m sorry she put you in that position. Hell, I’m sorryIput you in that position by asking you to do the wedding in the first place. I don’t blame you for keeping Zeus. I should have offered for you to see him more,” I admit, and she looks at me incredulously.

“Will you just stop apologizing? It’s getting weird. We’ve gone this long without you apologizing for stupid shit you’ve said or done. No point in starting now. I definitely wanted to punch her, but I’m trying to avoid violent reactions if they aren’t necessary,” Lia says bluntly, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Do you have to be so stubborn?”

“Do you have to be such a jerk all the time?” she counters, and my smile is genuine this time.

“Thought I was an asshole? Since when am I a jerk?”

Thalia bites her lip to hide her smile. “Why can’t you be both?”

I tap my fingers on the hardwood floors, wondering if I’m poking the bear by asking this question, but I have to know. For my sanity, Ineedto know. “Can I ask you something?”

“I think you just did. But if you’d like to ask a second question, then go ahead.”

Maybe I’m going to regret asking this, or maybe I won’t. But the answer to this question has been plaguing me and my dreams for years. “Why did you saynot now?”

Surprise is crystal clear on her face. “Do you really want to know?”

“Kind of why I’m asking, Lia.”

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