Page 67 of A Dark Fall

I shake my head and look down. Of course I hoped he’d gone, and we both know it.

“You missed the best speaker,” I say, desperate to steer the subject away from any kind of “us” chat. Desperate to keep things neutral. “He convinced me anyway,” I add.

He smiles. “Really? How did he manage that? I could do with some pointers ...”

“Ben, don’t ...” I start.

“Alex, you were right,” he cuts in with a nod of his head.

I’m startled and momentarily speechless. I was right? With Ben, I was never right. Few people ever were.

“I didn’t take care of you properly for a long time. I took you for granted. I knew you were drifting away from me, but I didn’t know how to pull you back ... Then Laura came along. She wanted me. There was a spark there again, for the first time in a long time, and it was easy to forget what I was doing was wrong. It was selfish, and I’m sorry. For hurting you and lying to you.”

I’m in shock, I think. Because he never said sorry. Not once. He never once admitted any fault during the entirety of our breakup. He always maintained Ipushed him away; Ididn’t love him anymore.

Now, he’s apologizing to me. Christ, maybe he has changed.

I wonder then what might have happened if he’d said sorry sooner. Would I have taken him back? If Jake came crashing into my life like he did and I was still with Ben, what then? The thought makes me feel uneasy, so I dismiss it.

“I appreciate that, Ben, but it doesn’t matter now. It’s over,” I say.

Ben moves a step closer, into my body space. He’s taller than Jake by a few inches, and I have to crane my neck to look up at him. He’s too tall now.

“Alex, please, can you let me—?” he starts, but his eyes catch onto something over my shoulder. Something that makes his expression change entirely.

When I turn around, I see Jake standing inside the revolving door, his gaze confused and dark. Immediately, I step away from Ben and his unwelcome proximity to my body. I think about how to explain this to Jake. I can’t tell him it isn’t what it looks like because that’s utterly cliché, and somehow, it’s almostalwayswhat it looks like.

Despite the glint in his eye, he still looks completely divine. He’s wearing a light blue T-shirt and blue jeans that hang slightly loose on his hips. His hair is mussed and wet as though he’s not long showered, and his cheeks are pink and glowing, which all adds to the almost youthful look he has on today.

“Alex?” Ben says. The way he says my name makes me think it isn’t the first time he’s said it in the past few seconds. “Alex, do you know him?”

I nod, feeling dazed. Then I turn back to Ben and take hold of my case.

“I have to go. It was nice catching up,” I lie. There I go again. It wasn’t nice catching up. Stop saying things you don’t mean, Alexandra.“Tell your parents I was asking for them,” I throw over my shoulder as I walk toward Jake.

It wasn’t what it looked like. It wasn’t anything.

“You were late again,” I say with a small pout as I stop in front of him.

He’s still glaring over my shoulder, so I lean forward and slip my hand around his waist before pressing my mouth to his. As his eyes close, I hope maybe the kiss will make him forget about the thing that wasn’t what it looked like.

Of course, I know Ben is watching, and I also know kissing Jake like this in front of him isn’t the nicest thing I’ve ever done, but Ben’s feelings are really low on my list of priorities right now.

When I open my eyes and pull away from his mouth, Jake is staring at me, his expression unreadable.“Looks like you had someone to keep you company,” he hisses.

I take his hand and pull him with me toward the exit. “An old friend. He’s just gone through a breakup.”

“An old friend who’s clearly into you,” Jake says, linking his fingers through mine.

“Well, that’s unfortunate for him then, because I am into someone else.” I smile.

My words cause his expression to lighten somewhat before he looks back at Ben in what I can only describe as an extreme warning. “Does he know that? Or do I need to go over and have a word with him? Make it clear you’re fucking taken.”

Somewhere inside, a part of me practically purrs at the thought of being taken by Jake. The other part of me would love to hear how the conversation in which Jake tells Ben I’m taken would play out.

“Um, I think he got the message.”

When he turns back to me, he only smiles, tension dissolving from his body before my eyes.