Page 131 of Velvet Chains
“I was drunk. Wasn’t thinking straight,” he said. “Well, I rarely do.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I know.” His tone dropped, low and worn. “I know I’m supposed to protect you.”
“But you chose him.”
There was a pause, the kind that felt longer than it was.
“I did,” Alek said finally.
“And you didn’t tell me,” I said. “You’ve been walking around with all this righteous anger about me and Kieran, and you didn’t tell me.”
“I’m an idiot,” he said. “I chose wrong. I’m sorry. I kept trying to figure out when, but—how do you say something like that? I just wanted you to stay away from Kieran because I thought I was protecting you. I thought—”
“You failed,” I cut in, my voice shaking now. “You failed me.”
He was silent.
“You can be furious,” he said eventually. “If you want. I deserve it. I just want you to know…I won’t let it happen again.”
I closed my eyes, pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. My voice was quieter when I spoke again. “Do you like him?”
“Um, yeah,” Alek said after a second. “He’s really nice. He asked me out for a date but I had to say no because, well, there’s too much baggage there for me now.”
I shook my head, quite aware he couldn’t see me. “You can still say yes. I don’t get to be mad. I’ve chosen men too, right? I get it. But you don’t get to lecture me again.”
“Okay. That’s fair. If I could go back—”
“You can’t. None of us can,” I said, sighing heavily. “I’m not mad, okay? I just need to…I don’t know. I just—I need to process. I’m going to get off the phone and try to get some sleep.”
“Okay,” Alek said, his voice soft. “You know I love you, right?”
“I know,” I said. “I love you too.”
I hung up without waiting for anything else.
Then I sat there in the quiet, staring at the phone in my hand. My chest felt tight. My skin was hot, too hot. I was exhausted and wired at the same time. I don’t remember getting into bed. Don’t remember if I brushed my teeth. I just remember the weight of everything pressing down on me all at once.
At some point, sleep came.
When I woke, it wasn’t to my alarm. It was to the smell of coffee.
Coffee I hadn’t made.
I blinked hard, disoriented. For a moment I didn’t know where I was—if I was late for court, if I was still on the phone, if Kieran had found a way in again, like a shadow slipping through the lock.
I sat bolt upright, heart hammering. The room was too quiet. Too normal. Sunlight slipped in through the blinds, and downstairs—
A voice.
Low. Calm. Familiar.
And Rosie’s laugh, high and bright, like a wind chime catching a sudden gust.
Julian.
I pressed the heel of my hand to my eyes. The stress hadn’t left. It had just sunk deeper. And I wasn’t ready for what came next.
