“You mean the…”
“I like you,” he nods stiffly. “Yeah.”
“Rhys, I—” I’m at a loss for words. For someone who thinks too much, not a single coherent sentence makes sense. “What I’m trying to say…” Come on. Anything.
He presses his lips together, gaze shimmering with amusement.
I hit his arm. “You asshole!” I’m laughing now.
“I had to,” he wipes a nonexistent tear away. “The look on your face—wish I had a video of it.”
“So you can mock me for all of eternity?” I scoff. “No, thank you.”
“At least it made you laugh,” he says with a relieved sigh. “Moping doesn’t suit you.”
My head automatically finds its way back to Dean. He’s not smiling anymore. Good, serves his right.
“I appreciate your feelings, Rhys.” I hug myself. “But I don’t?—”
He stops me. “I already know, Nova.” He’s genuine with his reply.
Makes one of us because I’m baffled. “What do you know?”
“It’s obvious by the way you look at him.”
My head whips to look at Rhys. “How do I look at him?”
If only he had crooked teeth and an ugly smile, that’d make me feel better.
“The way two couples at the altar look at each other. You look at him like admiration is too small of a word to describe how you feel. You let out a little sigh when you meet his gaze, your hand—see that right there—” I don’t dare look. “It stays in his direction like he’ll get up, grab your hand, and whisk you away. The way you look at him,Nova, is how writers imagine love between two characters to feel like.”
My throat tightens. “What are you saying?”
“You look at him with the acceptance of love.”
It’s like my body is overpacked with too many organs. Each working overtime to make sure I’m alive. But I’m well past being alive. If there’s life and death, then I’ve gone beyond the afterlife. With each passing minute, I can feel every single one. Two ribs, two lungs, two spines, and one heart. A pressing weight against my skin, yet I’m not bothered. It’s all-consuming, this feeling. If I press against my stomach, petals will grow out of me, and I’ll be nothing but a monument for people to take pictures with.
Rhys put a label on this feeling for me.
An emotion I’ve never experienced this way.
“I tried hating the guy and making you see that he wasn’t good but,” Rhys taps my knee. “My hate for ex-convicts shouldn’t apply to him. I put him in a category without knowing his side or how much he’s changed. He’s a great guy, Nova. I’m a better one, of course. But he’s not too bad.”
“It doesn’t matter,” my gaze doesn’t remain in place. “He doesn’t notice me.”
“Nova…” Rhys runs a hand through his hair. He didn’t get a haircut, it was just pulled back. “All he notices is you.”
I shake my head profusely. “That’s what it might look like, but he’s with her while I’m here.”
“Dean hasn’t said more than a sentence to each of us. There’s another reason he’s sitting with Kat, isn’t there?.”
“I—okay,still. Wouldn’t you try to get me back?”
“A real man respects his woman’s wishes.”
I close my eyes and groan quietly. “I’m not his woman.”I want to be, badly.
“Look at me,” I listen to Rhys. “The other day when you disappeared, Shaan and I were alone. They made us play a game and the winner was allowed to choose one person’s list to look at.”
