“Seriously?” I spat out. “I can’t believe he’s using your privacy to keep you in line. He should be fucking ashamed of himself.”
“Yeah, good luck getting him to see that.” She shrugged. She seemed to have come to terms with it, which she must have if she was so focused on getting us back together again.
“What about you? How did you get out? Did Tucker make bail for you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he was the one who posted it for me. But my father found out.”
“Oh, shit,” she groaned. “And what happened?”
“He cut me off from everything, for good,” I said, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears.
I felt this pulse of urgency in my head, one that told me we were running out of time and that we only had a minute or two more together before Claude turned up and chased me away from her. And if her father or Claude caught us together, it would only get her father to tighten up his obsession with keeping the two of us apart.
I hated this. All I wanted was for the two of us to be together, without question, without interference, without having to fight for it. But it seemed like, at every turn, the world was determined to make things as difficult as possible. And I wasn’t sure how much longer the two of us could survive like this.
Her mouth dropped open. “Can he just cut you out like that?” she asked, shaking her head.
I shrugged. “It’s his business,” I conceded. “I guess he can do whatever he wants, and right now, that involves keeping me out of it.”
“That’s awful.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “I’m so sorry, for all of it. If we’d never met, this wouldn’t be happening.”
I cut her off. “Then, I would’ve been miserable,” I said. “I don’t want you to think that. I’m glad I met you. I wouldn’t change a thing about it, Aria. Whatever is going on between our fathers doesn’t have anything to do with us.”
Before I could continue, I heard footsteps behind us, and the two of us jerked around to see who had entered. It was the librarian returning some books to the shelves not far from us. I was more aware than ever that the two of us were running out of time and Claude was probably already looking for Aria as we spoke.
“I should go,” she admitted regretfully. “I wish I could stay longer, but if they catch us together, then I doubt I’ll be allowed out of the house without a fucking GPS.”
“You’re right,” I agreed, even though it pained me to do so. We moved into another set of bookshelves, and I heard the door to the library chime open. Aria stood on her tiptoes, and her face paled at what she saw.
“Shit, it’s Claude,” she muttered.
She looked up at me and bit her lip, and I couldn’t resist her for another second. I leaned down to kiss her and could almost pretend we had all the time in the world. The way her mouth felt against mine, her body, her skin, her scent, everything about her took me over and filled my senses till there wasn’t room for anything else. No worry about Claude finding us, no sadness over being booted from my family, no panic over what the future might hold. Nothing mattered but the two of us and the way we felt together, the way our mouths moved against each other.
And then, she pulled back, looking up at me with searching eyes, as though reminding herself what I looked like, drinking me in while she still could.
“Okay, I need to get out of here,” she announced and paused, as though hoping I’d contradict her. But we were cutting it close as it was.
“Go.” I waved my hand, even though I wanted nothing more than to ask her to stay.
She nodded and turned on her heel to leave. I took the last chance I had to just look at her. This wasn’t enough time. I wanted to stop the clock and spend days with her in here, fucking on every surface we could find and exchanging our favorite books and talking about them. I wanted to do everything with her, but she had to leave, and I hated that I had to let her go. If I could have turned off the responsible bit of my brain long enough, I could have pulled her back and kissed her again, but instead, I stood there and let her walk away from me because I wasn’t sure if I had any choice.
And it hurt.
Fuck, did it hurt.
With everything stacking up on top of me, my father disowning me, Aria and the distance between us, I couldn’t remember a time when I’d felt so lonely in my life. It wormed its way into the very center of my being, taking up residence deep inside me and giving me no choice but to pay attention to it. I hated this.
As she walked away, I made my way back down the aisles to the back of the library so Claude wouldn’t spot me hanging around. I took deep breaths and tried to center myself, tried to remind myself we would find a way around this, a way to be together, and our families would get over this stupid feud eventually. This couldn’t last forever. Because we were meant to be together, and the universe would find a way to make it happen.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Aria
“What about him?” I pointed to a guy who’d been giving Floundy the eye ever since we walked into this place. “He’s cute.”
“I guess so.” Floundy looked back at him, and I could see from the heated look in his eyes, he was attracted to this dude. “Do you think he’d be interested in someone like me, though?”
“He’d be crazy not to be,” I promised him. “Come on, let me go over there. I’ll get him to talk to you.”
“You’re the best wingwoman I could have ever asked for, Aria.” He raised a glass to me, and I dipped low into a dramatic bow before heading over to the bar to get this guy’s attention.
Not that it would be hard. Floundy loved Tranquil’s, the gay bar not far from his apartment, and I guessed pretty much everyone here recognized him. And this guy, though super-cute, was way within his league. Floundy had dressed the hell up tonight and looked fantastic, and I was more than happy to have the opportunity to get out of the house and have some fun to get my mind off everything.
“Hey,” I greeted the guy at the bar, and he turned to me. He knew what I was here for.
“Hey.” He cocked an eyebrow at me and then nodded over to Floundy playfully. “That your boyfriend?”
“No, but he could be yours,” I shot back, and the man laughed.
“That’s about the best opener I’ve ever heard.” He grinned.
“You should come over and tell him just how funny I am,” I suggested, and he shrugged and took a sip of his drink.
“You know, I think I will,” he agreed.
The two of us headed back over to Floundy, and they got to chatting. I sat back, enjoying my drink, and let the conversation wash over me. It was good to be out of the house and do something for Floundy for a change, given how much of an amazing friend he’d been to me recently.
I wanted nothing more than to sneak out of here and go to Elliott, that’s if I could find him. But if I did that, I would land both myself and Floundy in more trouble than we needed, and I didn’t want to inflict that on my friend, or myself, for that matter.
I couldn’t get Elliott out of my head after we’d met up at the library, and I was missing him so much. It felt like a physical lack of something deep in my heart. It hurt. I just wanted to be near him again without having to worry about being caught, but I couldn’t figure out a way for that to happen anytime soon. Even now, at this club, Claude was lurking outside the only exit to make sure I didn’t try to make a break for it. We’d come so close to being caught when we were at the library, and I didn’t want to push my luck any more than I already had.