Page 162 of Revenge Puck

“I think it’s alittletoo late for that,” she says gently. “It’s unavoidable. She thinks you hung the moon.”

Ouch.

She studies me. “You’re not a monster, Aaron.”

My eyes go to the ceiling. “That seems debatable.”

“You were hurt. You handled it badly. That doesn’t make you irredeemable,” Sutton tells me. “You’re like one of those rakes in a historical romance. You’re like…Simon fromBridgerton.”

Pfft. Hardly.

“Simon was afraid he was going to wind up like his father and swore off children—and don’t ask me how I know this,” I grunt.

And I would know because I’ve binged all seasons.

“Ah ha! Exactly.” Sutton points at me like I’ve proven her argument. “Fear makes men do stupid, stupid shit. Like, super stupid. It doesn’t make them villains.”

“I haven’t sworn off children,” I argue.

“You’re missing the point.”

Right.

Well. “I should go—I’m meeting my trainer in an hour.”

Sutton tilts her head at me. “Thanks for telling me all this. I don’t love it, but…I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me.”

I nod. “You’re the only person I could tell.”

“That’s mildly concerning,” she says lightly. “But we can discuss the reason you have so few friends another time…”

“You’re so annoying.”

She makes an exaggerated kissy face at the camera. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

She ends the call.

I shove away from the counter and pace the kitchen, bare feet on the hardwood. My place smells like the chicken my chef prepared when he was meal prepping, the broccoli and rice lingering in the air.

I check my watch.

My trainer can wait. He’ll survive if I’m a few minutes late.

What I can’t seem to survive is the image that keeps replaying itself in my head: Juliette’s face when I shit on her feelings for me.

Am I being a coward?

Is that what all this is about? Fear?

Fear of what, exactly?

Shit.

I lean forward on the counter, staring out the windows down into the city, wondering when the hell the thought of losing Juliette seeped into my being. When did I start caring this much? What will I do if she discovers the truth first, and tells me to piss off?

That doesn’t make you unredeemable, my sister said.