Page 27 of Starving for Her

Gina reaches into the pocket of her sweats and pulls out my phone and hands it to me.

“It was there the whole time?”

“Hidden in plain sight,” she smiles. “By the way, the case on your phone is fucking huge. Get something smaller.”

Quickly, I press the power button on my phone, my heart racing as I watch the startup screen. Finally, the icons appear and I see that I have 17 unread text messages. I glance up at Gina, who clearly thinks this is a terrible idea, then press the icon.

Fresh tears fall from my eyes and cascade down my face as I read. Gina was right to make me promise her I wouldn’t run to him; I’m already ready to throw myself into his arms. But I did make a promise to her, and I know that no matter what he says here, he still lied to me.

But then I see something that makes my breath catch in my chest. A picture message. I press it and enlarge it, then zoom in. I almost can’t believe it. I shouldn’t believe it, but I want to. I want nothing more than to believe what I’m seeing, but I don’t know if I can.

“What?” Gina asks, picking up on my behavior. “What is it?”

I can’t help myself. A smile creeps across my face and I begin to laugh through my tears. I look over at her.

“I’m gonna go see him, Gina.”

She cocks her head to the side and holds up a warning finger. “No! No, Layla, we just had this discussion. You said that no matterwhat he said, you wouldn’t run to him—”

“It’s not what he said,” I shake my head. “It’s what he sent me.”

She looks confused, so I twist the phone and show her the picture message. I watch her face as she takes it in. She looks up at me in disbelief. I nod quickly, my heart boiling over with relief and enthusiasm as she throws her arms around me.

“Go, girl,” she whispers. “Go to him.”