Page 59 of Moonstruck at Midnight
William fidgeted in his seat but kept his gaze directed at me.
I explained to him how I didn’t think my life was in any danger at the moment, but still, certain precautions were taken, mostly for my father’s peace of mind.
“Is your father still abroad? You live alone, right?”
“My father lives here in New York, but he travels for work often. He thought I would appreciate a more independent lifestyle after growing up the way I did. So, we’re giving it a try.” It felt so good to let it all out.
“I’m so sorry you went through all of that. I didn’t know any of this. None of us knew.” His frown stationed in between his eyes. “I can stop calling you Guille if it—”
“It’s okay,” I cut him off. “I like it. It’s nice to keep hearing it, and I can handle it.” I could feel William studying my responses. “Just, don’t look at me like that. Like you feel sorry for me or something, please don’t.”
“I would never feel sorry for you.”
“Um, thank you for staying,” I said with a tight smile. “I know you could be downstairs instead with—your brother. I’m assuming there’s a party you need to get back to.”
“I wanted to know if you were okay.”
Tobias must’ve been more than happy to be alone with the three girls. Maybe more girls had arrived by then—who knew? But I was sure at least one of them was anxious for William to return. And for some reason, a part of me didn’t want him to go back to his afterparty.
Imagining him in his apartment with those—girlstriggered an unusually warm sensation in my stomach, almost as if it were absolutely empty. But I tried to squash the feeling by focusing on my conversation with him and remember I was in a relationship with Thomas. I had to accept William’s extracurricular activities werenoneof my business with big, bold, capital letters.
Frustrating.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Well, since someoneblocked me…” He laughed, shaking his head with incredulity. By his reaction, I assumed that no one had ever blocked him before. Because who was I kidding? Who would dare denyhim? Apparently, I’d been the chosen one for such a heroic task. “I had to go knocking on your door, but there was no answer. I took a chance and came up here.”
I wondered if his annoying tendencies permeated equally amongst other girls he knew or if he’d seen me as an easy target to pester. Probably the latter, but he behaved differently this night—normal, and even kind, I dare say. His ridiculously beautiful face did nothing to help my case.
“I’ll reconsider.” I chuckled under my breath.Not happening.
My fear was that if I unblocked him and Thomas saw any message from him, something catastrophic would happen no matter how meaningless it could be.
Unblocking him would have to wait.
If William needed anything, he knew where to find me.
“That’s okay. I deserved that. But still not sorry.” He lifted a brow and shot his signature smug face my way. But his features hardened up again quickly after that.That freaking frown! “I’m not trying to hurt ortortureyou as you keep saying. I’m just—don’t worry, I’ll—” He trailed off, and for some reason, I got the feeling like he wanted to get out of my way.
Please don’t!
I didn’t want to push William away, but we weren’t friends either. He was my neighbor, and that was it—my annoying, infuriating,charmingneighbor.
I wanted to tell him I didn’t care! That he could keep annoying me for as long as he wished to, but there was no proper way to voice that request. So I kept quiet, allowing the silent defeat to navigate through my body instead—provoking my frustrated lips to pucker, my disappointed brow to furrow, and my blameless stomach to go into a big, fat knot.
Say something!He needed to finish that sentence.
He smiled, as if having made up his mind about what to say next. “Even if I’m blocked, you know I’ve got other methods of getting my messages across.” He winked, smirk back and all.
Whew!
I lightly pushed his shoulder in a relieved way that made my body relax once again.
“You must be tired,” he said. You should probably get some sleep.”
I was exhausted.
“Am I being dismissed?” I joked, crossing my arms in front of me.
