She had no idea how many times I’d hurt myself to protect her and those innocent eyes.
“If there’s one thing you should know about my man here,” Andy said, patting me on the back, “it’s that he’s a chivalrous old soul who likes to defend any woman he sees in danger. It’s one of the qualities that makes women fall in love with him so easily.”
I had no idea what the fuck he meant by that, so I cast him a stern glance, wondering if he intended on making me sound like a complete man whore, or whether he was actually trying to be genuine with his praise. When I looked at him, though, I saw nothing but admiration staring back at me. I had no idea how to handle it after feeling nothing but his icy coolness for so long now.
“I think I fell in love with him the moment I saw him put that arsehole on his back,” Rhea said. “You really know how to fight, Henry. Where did you learn how to do that?”
“I—”
“Hey, now, I went after him first. Don’t I get some credit for that?” Jace cut in.
“Sheesh, Jace. It’s not always about you, you know.”
While the rest of them tried to lighten the mood, I locked eyes with Phoebe again, grateful to see a little flush of colour coming back to her grey cheeks, which meant the shock must have been wearing off a little.
“You want to get out of here?” I asked.
She gave a small nod that I’d started to recognise as one of the little things she did when she didn’t quite have the words she needed in any particular moment.
“You want me to walk you back to the apartment?” I asked.
“We’ll come with you,” Bailey offered.
“Absolutely, we will,” Rhea added.
Phoebe turned to both of them, tilting her head and adopting a small smile I saw straight through. “Girls, I’m okay, I promise. You know I love you, and you know how much I appreciate how much you love me right back, but… I just want to get out of this dress, get into bed, and go to sleep. You guys go find another bar with Jace and Andy. The night is young.” She glanced my way. “Henry can walk me home and then join you guys later. Right, Henry?”
“Sure.” I nodded, knowing there was no way in hell I’d be leaving her alone to go back to another party or bar. There could have been a string of topless women waiting to bring my every fantasy to life, and I still wouldn’t have walked away from her for a second. But whatever I had to say to get her alone and away from all this noise, I’d say.
“See?” Phoebe said, turning back to them. “I suppose I need to finally admit he’s not all bad, even if he is one of the most annoying men I’ve ever met in my life.”
Despite the anger still seeping through my veins, I couldn’t help the weak smirk that rose at that. If I hadn’t known how she really felt, she’d have fooled even me.
It took some back and forth between the girls—most of which I tuned out of, too lost in watching Phoebe’s every movement to make sure she didn’t go into shock at any moment—but eventually, after a lot of resistance, Bailey and Rhea agreed to let me walk Phoebe back to the apartment with the promise that I would text Jace and Andy immediately if anything else went wrong.
Once they’d hugged and said their goodbyes, I turned to leave with Phoebe, only for Bailey to walk up to me without warning and throw her arms around me. She pressed her cheek to my chest and squeezed my body tightly, pouring emotion into it that I had no idea how to respond to.
When she pulled back to look up at me, I swore she had tears in her eyes. “I’m starting to like you, Cohen. Thank you for doing what I couldn’t to that guy back there.”
She gave one last parting hug to Phoebe before the four of them began to walk away to continue their night together… leaving me with the one woman who’d slowly begun to take over every part of my goddamn life.
Phoebe stood before me, her hands hanging limply by her side, all the earlier sparkle of promise gone.
“I’m torn between loving how much freedom your friends give you to make your own choices, to being appalled at how easily they leave you every time you pretend you’re okay when you’re obviously not.”
“Who says I’m not?”
I raised a single brow at her and waited.
“Fine. But they’ve known me long enough to know that the only thing I value more than their friendship is my own space.”
“Have you always dealt with the hard shit on your own?”
“It’s the only way I know how to handleanyshit, Henry. Everyone is different, right?”
Not us, I thought.I think we’re the same. “Do you want space now?” I asked instead.
“I probably should.” Phoebe took a step closer as she looked up at me. “But for reasons I can’t understand, no matter how hard I try, I just want you.”
