Being abandoned again.
My body was responding to imaginary heartbreak as if it was imminent.
Max reached for my hand. “You’re not spiralling because you regret last night. You’re spiralling because you care.”
I had to smile. “Fuck, you really do see me, don’t you?”
Caring felt like the most dangerous thing I could do. My body was screamingProtect yourself before it hurts.
Before he leaves and you lose him.
My heart was whispering the opposite, and in that contradiction lay angst.
“Yes, I do. Andyousee that you need to go and talk to Cameron, don’t you?” Max cocked his head to one side. “Think about how you were when he came into the rehearsal. He’s bound to be wondering what’s going on. I mean, he wandered in, all post-sex glow, and?—”
“And I was anything but,” I finished for him.
He nodded. “So he’ll have questions.” He let go of my hand. “Give him answers. Be honest with him.” Then he smiled. “If you do that, you won’t screw up. Justtrusthim, Theo.”
I finished my coffee, then stood.
“See you at the next rehearsal.”
Max nodded. “Which will go a whole lot better than today’s did, I promise you.”
My stomach clenched.
“And before you get to replaying the last few hours over and over, take my advice. Our little gang won’t hold one bad rehearsal against you. If anything, they’ll have your back when you walk into the next one with a smile.” Max inclined his head toward the door. “Now get your arse home. There’s a gorgeous man waiting for you.”
A gorgeous man I needed to talk to.
Cameron
I’d intended staying longer at the rehearsal, but I’d had to get out of there, partly
because I had sketching to finish for class, partly because I needed to breathe—and also because watching Theo unravel with every note had left me shaken.
I’dneverseen Theo off before, not like that, not visibly.
The moment he noticed me in the doorway, I saw it, the split second of relief, followed immediately by panic.
Something was wrong.
I sat on the sofa, my sketchbook open, my pencil held loosely. I kept glancing at the door every time I caught footsteps on the pavement outside.
I touched my bottom lip.
Every time I thought of last night, my chest tightened. All of it played in a loop: the kissing, the whispering, Theo’s mouth on my throat, the way he’d looked at me as if he’d wanted me for years?—
His final sounds of pleasure and release that broke me, shattered me, and made my heart sing.
But today, he’d looked at me as though wanting me was a crime, and I didn’t understand.
The lock clicked, and I sat up straight.
Theo stepped in, his shoulders tense, his face pale.
He looks worse.