Page 89 of Kiss Me Ever After
“I’ll get you a refill. You need to rehydrate.” Sonya glanced down at the bucket. “In case of emergency.”
While I waited for her to come back, I stripped off my boots, t-shirt and jeans and slipped into bed. My head throbbed, and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to be sick again. Thank God for the bucket. Before Sonya had got back with fresh water, I had already fallen asleep, troubled by crazy dreams.
When I came to sometime later, I thought I was still dreaming.
Lennon sat on the edge of the bed, staring at me intently with red-rimmed eyes.
I reached out my hand to grasp her, make sure she was real and not a figment of my overworked imagination.
When my fingers touched her warm skin, I inhaled sharply.
“Hey,” I croaked.
“Hey yourself,” she replied, her own voice cracking. “You look terrible.”
“You don’t. You look amazing, as always.” I tightened my grip on her hand, relieved when she squeezed it back. “You’re really here? I’m not hallucinating?” I blinked.
She managed a small smile and nodded. “Yes, I’m here. And I know the truth about Candace.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “You do? How?”
“Are you sure you’re up to talking? Sonya told me what happened with Ted.” Lennon traced my jawline with one finger. “You should be resting.”
“Lennon, I’ve spent the past few weeks without you, hating every moment. Right now, I don’t give a fuck whether I should be resting.” I struggled to sit up, ignoring the ache in my ribs. “Talk.”
With a sigh, she began to speak. “I’d been getting messages from a number I didn’t recognise. One word, sorry. For a while, I thought it was a wrong number. Eventually coming back on the train earlier, I cracked and asked who it was.” She hooked her phone out of her bag and passed it to me.
I scanned the message thread, unable to believe Candace’s gall.
At least Lennon knew the truth now.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she blurted out. “I know I ran away, but I couldn’t bear seeing you withher, knowing what we had was over.”
“It was never over! You didn’t give me a chance to explain.” I tossed her phone to one side and took both of her hands in mine.
“I didn’t have to. When you came into the cafe the day after you found out, without even checking to see if I was okay, it was obvious you’d made your choice.” Lennon tried to pull away, but I wouldn’t let her. “And it wasn’t me. After that, I knew I had to go. When you didn’t contact me after I’d got to London, I had to accept our relationship was finished.”
“Amber told me not to get in touch, that you were trying to make a fresh start. So I did what she said.”
“It seems you have a habit of doing what everyone else tells you to.”
“If you tell me to keep on loving you, Lennon, I’ll do that forever.” I was deadly serious. There was nothing I wanted more. “Because I never stopped.”
She gulped, and a tear slid down one of her cheeks. “Neither did I,” she whispered.
Silence descended over the room as we sat there, taking in what each of us had said.
I wanted nothing more than to turn the clock back to Amber’s birthday party, to when Candace had dropped her bombshell. To change my actions and find out the truth before I got sucked in and taken for a fool.
Everything could have been so different.
Everythingshouldhave been so different.
Now I needed to make it right between us.
I would do everything in my power to give Lennon the boyfriend she deserved.
If she’d have me.
