Henry looked so dejected, so broken, I didn’t know whether to go to him to hold him together or give him space to think things through.
“Phoebe…” Bailey’s soft voice broke through my thoughts. “You okay?”
I nodded my weak assurance, not knowing what else to do or even say. I’d lied to both my friends so much on this trip, the guilt of it all should have knocked me off my feet. In a way, it did, but I could also never come to regret the moments I’d spent with Henry. The man I hadn’t known I’d needed when I’d thought men were the last thing I’d needed at all.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Bailey asked, stepping closer and wrapping a sympathetic arm around my shoulder before she pulled me to her, making that guilt rise inside ten times over. “Not that it matters.” She exhaled softly. “I’m just so proud of you.”
Her words had me looking up at her sharply, only to see the small smile on her face grow into a grin, and the sparkle in her gaze shine back at me.
“Proud?”
Rhea’s arm came around my other shoulder as her smile erupted and she whispered in my ear, “I’d have been so pissed if you’d gone back to England without going for it with him at least once. Sounds like you definitely went there more than once, too, you naughty girl.”
I glanced between the two of them, confused. “You’re not mad at me?”
Bailey chuckled. “You’re our friend, Phoebe Elisa Turner. Why on earth would we be mad at you?”
“I lied to you. I kept it a secret. I…”
“Oh, please. Just how thick do you think we are? Of course, we’ve had our suspicions. There are only so many walks you’d willingly go on with someone you apparently can’t stand.” She smirked.
I sighed, my attention slowly drifting to Henry, who stood there staring at his feet, his palm worrying the back of his neck as though he could somehow scrub away all the shame he clearly felt.
“Go to him.” Bailey squeezed my shoulder before stepping away. Rhea did the same. “We’ll talk later.”
“What about Andy?”
Bailey’s expression hardened. “He’s mine to deal with now.”
With a gentle shove in the back from Rhea, I found myself drifting away from the two of them until only Henry was in my sights.
That body of his, which I’d already spent so many hours worshipping, hunched over as though the weight of the world rested on his back, pushing him down. The defensive wall he put up in front of the world had crumbled, leaving behind a broken shell of a man who’d admitted so many things he probably only ever wanted to keep to himself.
She fucking matters, okay.
“Henry.” I placed a hand on his bicep, making him flinch before he righted himself and tilted his head in my direction.
When our eyes met, the sadness within his told me everything his voice couldn’t. He had regrets. I could only hope our time together wasn’t one of them.
I ran my hand down his arm. “You okay?”
“Areyou?’
Of course, his main concern had been me. I’d slowly learnt over our time together that the man never put himself first. “That depends on your answer.”
“Same.”
“You didn’t have to do that, you know. Defend me that way.”
His brows creased. “You’re worth defending.”
“Am I worth risking a friendship for?”
“You tell me.”
“He’s your family, Henry. And I’m… I’m…”
“Temporary? Yeah. I remember.”
