Page 88 of The Great Dating Fake Off
My stomach plummets. I know our night together was reckless, but I didn’t think it’d undo an entire wedding. Their relationship just imploded before our very eyes.
One single moment, one decision, started a cascade of chaos that ruined everything.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sebastian
That was a shit show.
Alessia and I come to a stop in front of the elevators. Her tone is all business as she presses the call button. “I’ll need to pack El’s and my things, then go down to the kitchen and figure out the plan for the food. Shit, what’s she going to do with all the food? No one wants those damn clams.” She presses the heel of her hand into her forehead. “Thank God my dad already paid in full. Is that terrible of me to say when my brother’s life is falling apart?”
Guilt roils in my gut. As if she needs to feel bad about anything, ever, when I caused this mess. “Alessia…”
The door to Hickory Hall swings open. Nora rushes into the lobby, hugging her chest. Her usual soft smile is nowhere in sight. Right now, her lips are turned down.
Ill-timed pride rolls through me in a wave. She held it together like a fucking champ as those people went in on her. She didn’t deserve it.
And then my jaw clenches as I replay Veronica’s harsh words.
Nora wouldn’t have had to hold it together if it wasn’t for me. I need to tell her I’m sorry for kissing her in my doorway where anyone could’ve seen—did see. And then I need to do something to make this better for her.
My gaze bounces back to Alessia, who I also need to talk to and make amends with. There are so many people to apologize to I don’t even know where to start.
Alessia’s smile is sympathetic as she steps into the elevator. She gestures behind me. “Talk to your girl. I’ll be in my room.”
My girl.
What a shitty time to discover that phrase lights me up inside.
Nora’s eyes meet mine as she closes the distance between us. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I nod toward an external exit about ten feet off. “Can we talk? Outside, maybe?”
She casts a look at the door. “Yes. I need to get out of this building.”
The feeling is mutual. The stuffy air in this place is choking me.
Birdsong and sunshine, oblivious to the stormy atmosphere inside, greet us as we step into the day. Nora gravitates toward the same spot where all the wine-drunk wedding guests gorged themselves on s’mores by a campfire just a few nights ago.
A lifetime ago, it feels like.
Nora lifts her gaze to the bright blue sky, fiddling with her hoop earring as golden daylight paints her face. Something between my ribs aches as my gaze traces her long lashes, high cheeks, and the slope of her jaw. Her face has become so familiar to me.
“Well, that was something,” she finally says.
It takes serious restraint not to take her in my arms. But she may not want that from me right now, considering I’m the reason she just got yelled at in front of all those people. “I’m sorry, Nora.”
She does a double take. “What?”
“I put you in a terrible position. I should never have let that happen.” A blip of disgust encroaches on my tone. “I was careless.”
Her gaze is assessing. A gust of wind lifts her hair off her neck as those green eyes rake me over. “We were both there. I was very much a part of the decision-making.”
Decision-making that led to perhaps the best night, and morning, of my life.
Our eyes lock, and heat spreads through my chest. The worst has happened in terms of this week, and I’ll be sorting through the guilt for a long time. But it does nothing to dim the fire she kindles in me every time she’s close. It doesn’t change the way I feel. “I’ll talk to Alessia and Enzo and take full responsibility for us.”
Her gaze flits between my eyes. “Us?”
