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I nod, not bothering to look in his direction.
“How long has this been going on?”
Two years.
“Couple months,” I lie.
“Is she why you wanted to meet your dad?” he asks, already knowing the answer.
“I thought it would help explain to me why I was such a fuckup, why I couldn’t ever put this side of me to bed, but it wasn’t just some youthful habit. He did the same shit—does the same shit. What if It’s inevitable for me to come back to this life, what if it fucking in me.”
I see Royce bring his drink to his lips out of the corner of my eye, before they travel back to their designated spot on the dance floor.
“That’s bullshit. You’re not him, and you know it.”
“How couldn’t I be? We share blood.” I turn to him, pleading with my brother.
“Fuck blood. It’s hard to clean and even harder to control. Just because the choices you’ve made are similar doesn’t make you anything like him.”
I keep trying to tell myself that.
“Sometimes, all we need is a little inspiration to spark change within us, and yours seems to be looking right at you.”
Turning back to where the string in my heart won’t stop pulling me, the crowded dance floor looks fuzzy because all I see is her.
Wavy chestnut tendrils effortlessly flow down both sides of her face. In a simple white long-sleeve skintight shirt and a small denim skirt, Fia finds me out of everyone.
Not the man beside me, or the ones ogling her on the dance floor—me.
We hold contact for a few slow beats before her slim finger reaches her cheek, and just like I told her, she taps twice.
CHAPTER 51
FIA
“Did you know your boyfriend was going to be here?” Taylor yells over the loud bass thumping into my eardrums as my pointer finger lingers on my face.
Even with my head feeling worry I’m not used to, my heart inevitably finds him.
“Yeah, he—uh, came out with some friends,” I stutter out.
“If his friends look anything like him, I’m a single girl always looking for a helping hand,” she jokes, clearly feeling herself.
“You didn’t seem like you needed help with Mr. Giant in the back of the room.”
I smile, still looking right at Jett, too caught up in whatever pull is happening between us.
With wide eyes, I watch as he rises, his sights set on me. His stern gaze forces tingles to zip down my spine. Rarely is Jett Parker ever this intense—really, his demeanor is almost always unserious, so this switch-up is different.
“I’m going to… Will you be okay if I?” Not wanting a repeat of our last outing, I turn to Taylor, but I’m disoriented at best.
“Yeah, babe, I’m good,” I hear her say beside me, even through the heavy thumping in my ear. “He looks like he’s hungry for you,” she murmurs, and I feel a smile tugging at my lips.
Letting my feet carry me to him, my body gives me no option but to become one with his. I glide my way through the loud crowd. Everything around me is silenced. The only thing between us is the vibration from the room and the pull of our hearts, meeting us in the middle.
Moving in what feels like slow motion, I pass through a sea of people dancing, taking shots, groups of men with their eyes set on me.
The old me would’ve felt so fucking good about that. Thought one of them was another opportunity to bury the ghost of my past—not anymore.
