Page 282 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
God, him and his stupid deal. Why was he doing this to me? And I hadn’t seen his whole kiss with Gigi. I’d turned away becauseI couldn’t bear it. Just thinking about that kiss made it feel like there was a knife in my chest. Could Axel really not tell how much that had hurt me?
I pressed my lips together. Maybe he just didn’t care. For my whole life, I felt like I somehow belonged to him. That our fate was twisted together. At least, that’s how I’d seen it. I’d hoped that one day he’d wake up and see it too. But I was so sick of being his when he wasn’t mine. I glared at him. “Did you make the kissing booth explode on purpose with that shitty pass?”
He chuckled. “I definitely didn’t mean to make it explode.”
“You know what I meant, Axel. I know you think of me like a sister. Jacob told me. And I know that you’re just trying to be protective. Or something. But you can’t go around blowing things up to prevent me from living my life.”
He opened his mouth to say something when there was a creak on the ladder beneath us.
Sophie popped her head in. “There you guys are. We’ve been looking all over for you.” She peered down. “Jacob, they’re up here!” She climbed into the treehouse and sat down.
Jacob climbed up next. He sat down next to me.
And for a second...everything felt wrong. Like the four of us were suddenly strangers.
“Why do you always come up here?” Sophie asked me.
I hadn’t realized I’d been so obvious every year. “It’s fun to look at our parents when they were our age.” Although, most of the pictures were of them younger. I hadn’t seen many of them together as teens now that I thought about it. But my dad had probably stopped coming up here.
I guess I was the only one stuck in the past. The only one having trouble moving on. After all, I was sitting in this treehouse like I did every year, apparently. I’d been trying to move on from the past, but now it felt like I was trying desperately to cling on to it. Just me. Not the three of them. It was a sobering thought.
“Yeah.” Sophie turned to stare at the pictures. “My dad was always so much cooler than yours.”
“Hey!”
She laughed and turned back around. “But really. Feeling nostalgic tonight?” She lightly tapped her shoe against mine.
I sighed. “Yeah, a little, I guess. It just feels like everything is about to change. I just want all of us to always be friends. No matter what. The four of us against the world, you know?”
“I don’t think anything will ever change that,” Jacob said as he put his arm around my shoulders.
Axel cleared his throat. “Us against the world,” he said as he stared into my eyes. “Always.”
“Always,” Soph agreed. “And speaking of the four of us...we need to figure out homecoming. Because there is no way in hell we’re not all sharing a limo this year.” She stared daggers at Axel. “It’sour senior year. You can’t ask some rando as your date and ditch us again.”
“Fine by me,” he said.
“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask.” Jacob looked down at me. “What do you say, Scar? Be my date for homecoming?”
My heart pitter-pattered against my ribcage. I’d never been asked to a dance before. Ever. But I was very aware of the fact that the person I’d always hoped would ask never would. I could feel Axel’s eyes on the back of my head. But he’d just promised it would always be the four of us. This didn’t have to change anything. I took a deep breath. “Absolutely.”
Jacob smiled.
It was my senior year. I deserved to be asked to homecoming. I deserved to be happy. I knew going with Jacob meant Axel would ask Gigi. But I couldn’t let his threats break me. It was really starting to feel like the two of them were written in the stars.
“You two are so cute together,” Sophie said.
I felt my cheeks flushing.
“Well,” Axel said. “I guess that leaves the two of us, Soph. What do you say? Should we just go together? Then I can’t possibly ditch you guys for another limo.”
It felt like the world had stopped spinning. Had Axel just asked Soph to homecoming? Was he serious right now? Theoneyearhe decided to ask a friend and he asked Soph? It felt like he’d stabbed me in the heart. And then thrown sand in the wound. And I hated that he was smiling. Like his words hadn’t just killed me.
“Ugh,” Sophie said. “It feels so desperate to go as friends. But fine. Whatever. The man of my dreams has rubbed me all wrong tonight.
I cringed thinking of Mr. Halifax.
“Besides, he never says yes when I leave him notes asking him to the dances anyway. Let’s do this thing.”
