Page 58 of Fight For Me

“Shut up,” she snaps, then thrusts her hand into the back of her dress. I stare at her in confusion—is she undoing her zipper? Am I drunker than I thought? Then she pulls out a black wire and I realize what’s happening. Monica, Scott’s assistant, had mic’d all of us before we got in the limo. Normally I’d have refused, but Scott insisted anyone joining the group at the club had to be mic’d. The device is small—a little piece of plastic on my collar and a slightly larger battery back in my pocket. I’ve been wearing the damn thing for hours and completely forgot about it.

Shit.

I scramble at my collar, pulling the mic free and disabling the wireless feed. Alex does the same and then we stand there at the end of the now-empty hallway, staring at each other. “I can’t believe it took me this long to get it,” she finally mutters, looking away and running a hand through her disheveled hair. “All this time I’ve been telling myself that it was my fault.”

“What was your fault?”

She glares at me. “For the last two years I thought thatIwas the one who screwed up that night.”

I don’t bother to ask her what night. We both know she’s talking about the kiss. “You didn’t screw up—”

“I figured that I must have misread you. The way you kept looking at me, the way we kept finding ways to touch. I convinced myself that it was all in my head. That you saw me as some silly little girl. I told myself that was the reason you stayed away for so long—because you thought I wouldn’t be able to handle being around you.”

I stare at her, stunned. How on earth could she believe that?

“I thought you must be so embarrassed for me, the way I threw myself at you.”

“Stop,” I growl, reaching for her arms. “That’s not what happened. I wasn’t embarrassed for you. Jesus.”

She shakes off my hands, glaring up at me. “I see that now.” She lets out a bitter laugh. “It’s so fucking obvious.”

There’s a sinking feeling in my stomach. “What is?”

“You!” she cries. “Youdidfeel it back then—this connection. It wasn’t all in my head. And you still feel it. Just like I do.”

My breath is caught in my lungs. I’m terrified for her to continue, terrified for her to realize how I feel. At the same time, there’s a part of my stupid, clueless heart that wants to celebrate—she still feels it.

“You didn’t push me away because you didn’t want me,” she continues, eyes flashing. “You pushed me away because youdid.”

“Alex—”

“You pushed me away because you’re a coward, Wyatt.”

Some of the raging emotions coursing through me boil over, and I take a step closer. She retreats when I advance, her back hitting the wall. She stands there, glaring up at me, anger and hurt written on every line of her face.

“I am eleven years older than you,” I say in a low voice. “You couldn’t even legally drink when I kissed you.”

Her mouth drops open in surprise and I realize what I said. ThatIkissedher. It’s true though, and I won’t take it back. What’s the point in pretending? She needs to understand this.

“Do you have any idea what your dad would say if he found out about that kiss? What he would do to me?”

She shakes her head. “My dad loves you—”

A bitter laugh bursts from me. “You think he’d still feel that way if he knew I had feelings for his daughter? You think he’d be okay with that? You think anyone in the family would be okay with that?”

She blinks up at me, confused. “I think the family would want us to be happy.”

I shake my head, finally stepping away. “I’m too old for you.”

“I’m not twenty anymore, Wyatt. I’m not a little kid.”

“You might not be a little kid, but you’re still way too young for someone like me.”

“Someone like you? What does that even mean?”

I think about how she had looked on the dance floor, so easy and free and happy. “You should be out having fun.” I gesture back to the club behind us. “You should be out all the time doing stuff like this. Dancing. Clubbing. Playing silly drinking games with your friends. That’s notme, Alex.”

She rubs her temple. “There are so many things wrong with what you just said that I don’t even know where to start.”