Page 84 of The Honeymoon Hack
“Brie, keep it down.” I glanced at the door, imagining people listening in. “These walls aren’t exactly soundproof.”
She ignored me, her voice climbing another notch. “Every change in my life has led to pain. Every. Single. One. My father goes to prison—my entire life is destroyed. We move to Halifax—I become the traitor’s daughter that no one wants to talk to. You go to London—I spend a year alone, without you. Shawn leaves me?—”
“Your life wasn’t destroyed,” I countered, making a quieting gesture. “And if your family hadn’t moved to Halifax,wenever would have met.”
She rolled her eyes, her hands cutting through the air. “Oh, great argument. One good thing amid a lifetime of loss.”
“It’s more than that.” I moved closer, trying to catch her arm as she began pacing again, but she sidestepped me. “Think about what you’ve accomplished here. You hacked into a system you thought was impenetrable. You gathered intelligence no one else could. That’s change, too.”
“I was forced into this job!” Her voice cracked. “Another unwelcome change!”
“Brie, please,” I urged, “keep your voice down. We don’t need the entire data center knowing our business.”
“Why not?” She gave a harsh laugh and sank onto the bed, her voice dying down. “All married couples argue, don’t they? Adds some authenticity.”
I knelt in front of her, taking her hand, trying to find the moment we’d had against the wall.
“You should understand better than anyone,” she said, holding my hand instead of yanking it away. “First your dad, then you find out about your mom. You essentially lost both of your parents at once. You had to leave everything behind to take care of her.”
The words struck deep, finding the raw places I’d been tamping down for the past year.
She’d aimed for maximum impact and found it. “Tell me change isn’t poison.”
“Yes, all those things happened,” I said quietly. “But what if I hadn’t found out about Mum yet? What if she’d been alone, confused, forgetting to eat or take her medications? You can’t just wait around and hope things will go back to the way they were. Change happens, Brie. That’s how we grow.”
She shook her head fiercely. “You weren’t there when I needed you. When Shawn left me, I had no one.”
As much as I’d wanted to tell her the breakup was for the best, Iwasthere for her. “I was on video calls with you every night for three straight weeks. I listened while you cried. I told you that you deserved someone who valued you properly, who saw how incredible you are.” I remembered her tear-stained face on our call after it happened. And how much I’d wanted to reach through the screen to hold her. “And then you didn’t speak to me for three days.”
Her eyes glistened, but no tears fell. It had always taken a lot for her to cry. No doubt, years of Evelyn’s influence. “Because you were talking about my relationship like you understood it, when you weren’t even?—”
“I understood enough to know he was wrong for you,” I interrupted, my voice rising despite my earlier caution. “Just like I understand that right now, you’re letting fear keep you from something that could be incredible between us.”
For a moment, she stared at me, and I could almost see the calculations running behind her eyes, the same way she processed code and algorithms. Her walls slammed back into place.
“We agreed, Will.” She slipped her hand out of mine and crossed to the desk, grabbing her phone with shaking fingers. Her voice was flat, final. “We agreed it was a mistake and it could never happen again.”
“No, Brie.” I remained crouched in front of the bed, barely able to look at her. Some piece of me, deep inside, wanted to lash out. Wanted to point out how every one of her boyfriends had sucked up to me at first, then warned me to stay away from her. Wanted to tell her how work was the only thing that got me through the past year, because she was always on the video calls. Wanted to tell her to stop being so fucking scared. But all I had in the end was the truth. “Youdecided it was a mistake.Youmade me choose: friendship or nothing.”
She stood frozen, her mouth falling open. Was this honestly a surprise to her? Did she not remember how everything had happened?
Instead of answering, she turned and left.
Chapter 33
Brie
Tears blurredthe gray walls of Mnemis into a smudge as my feet carried me aimlessly—away from our room, away from Will. From his lips. His body. The look in his eyes.
‘I’ve wanted to for years,’he’d said.
What was I supposed to do with his revelation?
And where was I even going? Not back to our room. The Grotto would be full of people who’d ask questions or stare. Little Haven was locked down for the hurricane. The gym? The spa? Back to The Bridge?
No, I needed someone I could be real with.
Pulling out my phone, I texted Rav:Where’s your room?
