Page 28 of Revival

The realization hits me like a gut punch.

Tears brim along my lower lids, a cacophony of warning bells ringing in my head. I push off Spencer and dash for the exit.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

Spencer’s long legs catch up with me easily. His arm sweeps around my back, ushering me with his strength straight out the door and into the warm night.

I fight against the sniffle that would reveal my plight. A part of me is delusional enough to believe I can get back to our room without him noticing the wet tracks racing down my cheeks and neck.

“What’s wrong?”

I should have known Spencer would never miss something like that.

“Nothing,” I whisper. “I just want to go to bed.” The fight left the minute we stepped outside into the fresh, salty air. Now I’m just drunk and sad—a deadly combination.

Spencer nods as if that’s a good idea.

“Are you okay to walk back?”

With one hand and then the next, I peel off my treacherous heels, leaving me barefooted. “I’m fine, Spence.”

“Here.” He easily relieves me of my shoes. The heels dangle by their straps from his index and middle fingers. The other hand stays firmly attached to the small of my back. “I’ll walk you back.”

“That’s not—”

His voice is a deep rumble. “Just let me have this, Kitten.”

The fight leaks out of me with a weathered sigh. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“You have incredibly sharp claws.” He laughs lightly.

“I’m sorry.” I hiccup around a bubble of sadness in my throat. “I thought I was better. I mean, I’m okay, but it just hit me in there.”

“What hit you?”

We walk a few feet in silence. It’s beautiful out here. The stars illuminate the night sky with millions of tiny pinpricks of light.

“I was so stupid.”

“Not a unique human experience, I’m afraid.”

My lungs shudder with the shame I’ve held close like an old, comforting sweater. The path to our villa appears. We veer left, and the truth comes tumbling out.

“Maybe not. But being the only daughter in a family of sons, one of the oldest siblings at that, and watching my brothers each fall in love over the past few years surely has to be somewhat anomalous. I wanted that. To the point I deluded myself into thinking I had it.”

I swipe angrily at the tears on my cheeks.

“What makes you think you didn’t have it?” Spencer holds open the door to our villa for me to enter.

The answer remains locked tight. Keeping my face tucked from his inquisitive gaze, I slip inside. My heels clack against the cold, tiled floors where he drops them. On my quest to the bedroom, I toss my clutch purse on the table near the two high-backed accent chairs. It skids off the side and falls to the floor. The bed comes into view, covered in stupid red rose petals. I bypass the romantic gesture from the resort and work on opening the collapsible wall.

Spencer pads silently behind me, straightening the destruction left in my wake.

“Let me,” he rumbles.

I nod once and scamper back to the bed. I grab the duvet and whip it so hard the rose petals go flying. Good. At least the reminders of my failed love life are out of my way.

Dropping the heavy comforter, I crawl onto the mattress. Tucking my knees beneath me, I settle in the center and gaze ahead at the dark ocean and stars.

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