Page 69 of Perfect Score

I exit the bar and head for the elevator. I don’t know how well she’ll take this, but I have to try. It’s been almost fifteen years, and she’s still the only one I’ve ever wanted.

I’ve only ever stayed away because I thought Liam was who she wanted, but what if all that changes this weekend?

Zoey

I hear the door to our suite close.

Brent must have followed me up.

I hear his heavy steps getting louder as he gets closer to the bathroom.

"Zoe, are you okay in there?" Brent says on the other side of the bathroom door.

"Yeah," I say softly, trying not to let my voice shake.

"What happened down there? You disappeared."

"He gave her my ring," I say, my voice breaking at the very end.

I shouldn’t be the one sad. Shelby should be irate that Liam would give her a ring he gave someone else first, but what hurts is the idea that our ruined future meant so little to him that he could give the last token of love he ever gave me to someone else.

How could he care so little about our past together?

Isn’t a woman’s engagement ring sacred?

"Shit, I’m sorry," he says.

I hear the wood of the door crack and the shadow under the door move closer. He’s leaning against the door while he speaks to me. As if he wants to be as close as he can.

I hate how much I need that.

How much I need him to be here with me.

I don’t want to be alone, but I’m also embarrassed that he’s witnessing me falling apart like this—crying again.

Even after prom, I never showed emotion in the halls of our school. I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he hurt me. I wish I could be that unaffected by Liam giving her my ring.

“I’m sorry I left like that. I just wanted to be alone,” I say, sucking snot up my nose.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asks.

Do I want to be alone? Yes.

But do I want to be alone, with Brent nearby? Also yes.

“No, I don’t want you to leave,” I tell him.

Silence grows for a moment on his side of the door.

I swish the warm water around me, batting the few bubbles around me.

“Can I come in?” he asks softly.

My heart thuds wildly against my chest at his request.

My hands slide up my body and cup my breasts at the thought of covering them. If I let him in, he’ll see everything, but his hands already know my body from what he did to me last night. The thought of it has my nipples hardening and my center warming.

What we did last night has my body answering instantly.