Page 26 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

I was a little nervous bringing Daniel in front of all my friends at once. Even though I’d been working on the whole not caring what others thought of me thing, it was a hard habit to break. It wasn’t that I was worried about what they thought of him. It was what they thought about me going from Ryan to Daniel.

But I shouldn’t have worried. They all welcomed him like he was one of us already, because let’s face it, he was sort of like one half of Ryan in a way. The way they’d all immediately went out of their way to make him feel comfortable made me feel a little guilty that I’d even thought they could be anything but nice about it all.

What tested everyone’s comfort, though, was when Ryan showed up. I could tell everyone was trying extra hard to be cool about it, but the tension in the room was noticeable.

It was about an hour after Ryan had arrived, while Daniel was taking his turn at pool and I was left standing on my own, when Ryan approached me. To say I was surprised was an understatement. I knew he’d been watching me since he’d arrived, but I just put it down to him finding it weird to see me with his brother. I was just hoping he wasn’t going to cause a scene like the last one outside Daniel’s bedroom.

When I blinked up at him with uncertainty, he gave me a sad smile. “Could I talk to you for a minute?” he asked.

I quickly glanced over to Daniel, but he was bent over, taking his shot. “Uh . . . I guess.”

“Outside okay?”

I didn’t really want to be out of Daniel’s sight, but I didn’t want to be in a room full of people if he was going to say something to piss Daniel off, either. “Sure.”

I started following him out the door, glancing back over my shoulder to see Daniel watching me with wary eyes. I started to stop, thinking it might be best to let Daniel know what I was doing, but Ryan called my name. “Coming?”

I looked back to see him holding the door open for me. Nodding, I stepped through.

Once outside, I wasn’t so sure I’d done the right thing by leaving. I didn’t want to be alone with him, but I also knew it would probably help Daniel and Ryan’s relationship if Ryan and I could actually get along with each other, and I was willing to make up if it would help Daniel.

Ryan sighed, causing me to glance up at him, half-expecting him to be sighing at me in exasperation or something, but he was looking across the drive.

Noah’s brothers, Micah and Eli, were there with the two girls they’d brought along, playing some sort of game involving a ball and cups.

“Would you mind if we talked in my car? I don’t really want an audience.”

I glanced down the drive to see his car at the end. Since he’d arrived last, I wasn’t surprised. Just wanting to get it over with, but not wanting to seem rude, I agreed. “Okay.”

Walking me down to his car, he opened the passenger door while I climbed in, then went around and slid into the driver’s seat. “Look, Amy, I really owe you an apology . . . ”

Even though I’d hoped that was where he was going with all this, it was still a shock to hear. “Oh, that’s—”

The sound of his cell pinging with a new text cut what I was going to say short.

“Sorry,” he said, pulling it out to read it. He sighed. “Corey wants more cola. Do you mind if we go get some real quick? I can talk on the way.”

I really wanted to say no, but I wanted to get it over and done with, and I wanted us to get along, for Daniel. “All right.”

“Okay.” He quickly started the car and pulled out to the street. After a block, he cleared his throat. “What I was saying, is that I’m really sorry, Amy. The way I treated you was beyond appalling. I . . . shit, I can’t think and drive at the same time. Hang on . . . ”

I watched him flick on the blinker and pull onto the shoulder of the road before turning the car off completely. Nervously, I shifted in my seat.

“I know I said it was you, but it wasn’t. I was really stressed out. I had Dad calling me every goddamned day, trying to convince me to move over there to do the internship, and I was struggling to keep up my grades. I know that doesn’t excuse the way I acted at all, but I wanted you to know that wasn’t really me. I’m not that asshole. I mean, you’ve known me for how many years? You know that I’m not really like that. It’s just . . . God . . . you were always there. You were always my constant—even before we were together. You always helped me get out my frustrations, and I guess I just took that for granted, and then took it the next step by taking my frustrations out on you.”

I sat in silence while he inhaled deeply. I think I was in shock. I hadn’t expected that. At all.

“Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive me, Amy? Will you give me another chance? Please? I’m begging. I miss you so fucking much. I’m so goddamned sorry.”

Okay, now I was in shock. “You want to get back together?” I squeaked.

“More than anything. Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. Tell me how I can get you back. I’ll do anything.”

Jesus. How the hell did I answer that? Drawing in a long, stuttering breath, I exhaled in a huff. “Ryan, I can’t. We just weren’t meant to be together. I can see that now—and I’m okay with it. I really appreciate you apologizing to me, more than you could know, but it just isn’t going to happen between us. The attraction just isn’t there for me.”

“But it is with Daniel,” he said, defeated.

I bit the inside of my cheek, wondering how much I should say. “Yeah, it is. I really like Daniel. A lot.”

---