Being faced with the reality that I’d been living in a fantasy, imagining what I felt for my best friend could ever be more than that, hurt more than I’d anticipated.
Having always been able to read my emotions, Ryan kept his distance, but I could feel his eyes on me. Every move I made, his gaze shifted with me. And just as he could read my emotions, I could read his, as if part of him were hot-wired inside me and I could detect his shift in moods. If I frowned, I felt him tense. If I smiled, I felt him relax a little. But he stayed away, knowing I wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.
It was only a matter of time, though. I knew I couldn’t avoid him the entire party. He’d flown all this way, when it was more than apparent he hadn’t really wanted to, just for my birthday. I couldn’t be rude and not at least thank him for coming.
Elias came up beside me, an all-too welcome distraction as he pushed a cup of punch into my hands before dropping his arm around my shoulders. “Great party, little beauty,” he said, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “But how about opening the presents already? I think you’ll like what I got you.”
“Yeah?” I said with a grin, tipping my head back to look up at him. But at barely five feet tall, I had to look up at everyone.
“Yeah,” he teased, tapping me on the nose. “Come on, I’ll show you.” Taking my hand, he pulled me away from the group I’d been chatting with and over to the huge table where the presents had been placed.
He picked up one of the smaller boxes and handed it to me, but as I took it, everyone in the room seemed to move in around us, more than happy to have me start opening their gifts as well.
I shook the brightly wrapped box, my eyes narrowing when I didn’t hear anything. “Hmm,” I muttered, smirking up at him. From the box shape alone, I knew it was some kind of jewelry.
He picked me up and placed me in a chair that Max pushed over to us with his foot. “Open it already,” Elias commanded.
His blue eyes looked so earnest I couldn’t make him wait another second, and I quickly started ripping the paper off. Uncovering the narrow black jewelry box inside, I carefully opened it. Only to gasp at the sight of the necklace inside.
Elias lifted the small platinum compass pendant hanging from the matching chain out of the box. “I know we won’t have you for much longer, little beauty, but I wanted you to have something that will always help you find your way home.”
Tears stung my eyes, breaking through the defenses I’d tried so hard to keep in place all afternoon.
“I agree, treasure,” Max grumbled from beside me. “Elias always tries to make the rest of us look bad when it comes to presents.”
Elias winked down at me before smirking at the couple. “You’re just jealous that I’m better at shopping for pretty girls than you.”
“Says the guy who didn’t know what to get me for my birthday when I turned eighteen,” River commented, bouncing her son in her arms with a laugh.
“I could have bought you any number of things back then, sweetheart. But they all would have gotten me nice and dead because Maverick would have killed me for giving them to his girl.” He lifted his chin at her husband, who gave a nod in agreement, Maverick’s arm going around her possessively.
I moved my hair out of the way so Elias could fasten the necklace around my neck, but the entire time, I could feel Ryan’s eyes like lasers on the top of my head. There was this pull, urging me to look up, to meet his gaze, but I fought against it, knowing if I gave in, there would be no way of hiding my feelings any longer.
Touching the little pendant, I gave Elias a wobbly smile. “Thank you,” I was able to choke out. “You don’t know how much I needed this right now.”
His blue eyes darkened. “I’m always here if you need me, little beauty.”
A savage sound came from somewhere in the crowd, but I didn’t need to look to know whom it had come from. The entire room was suddenly charged with Ryan’s emotions, making me tense even as confusion clouded my head.
What the hell was his problem?
“Us next, us next!” Ian and Isaac shouted as they ran over to the table and grabbed the gift bag their dad had been carrying earlier. “Open ours now, Nova,” Ian instructed.
Laughing, I dropped to my knees on the floor with them and started pulling out the tissue paper. But before I could get to the present beneath, Gianna and Lilliana ran over to join us, followed by Lexa’s son, Finn, and Tavia’s daughter, Rai. For the next twenty minutes, the six of them helped me open one gift after another. I got more enjoyment out of their excitement over the gifts than the actual presents themselves.
“Okay, one more and then cake!” Dad announced as he stepped on the pile of torn wrapping and tissue paper that the little kids had been playing with. He offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet since I’d been sitting on the floor with Rocco in my lap, letting him crinkle some of the paper.
I passed Rocco over to his daddy, just as Mom came to join us once she’d handed her camera over to Aunt Raven. I didn’t get why she needed to take pictures of me unwrapping presents at every party I’d ever had, but I figured it was a mom kind of thing, that they had to document every moment, no matter how big or small.
“We haven’t shared this with many of you yet.” Dad spoke up again, his arm tightening around me. “Mainly because it has taken me a while to wrap my head around it. It was both a proud moment for me and a gut-punch all at once. But since we have everyone here, Felicity and I thought it was the best time to make the announcement.”
“Dad,” I muttered, shaking my head, knowing right away what he was going to say.
But he didn’t see my pleading eyes, begging him not to say anything yet. His gaze was on the crowd, and the pride in his voice made me press my lips together. “This is probably the last birthday party our Nova will be having here for a long time. Unless she decides to come home to celebrate it with us, that is.”
Everyone was looking at us in confusion now, except for the few people who already knew, which wasn’t many, considering the one person I’d wanted to share the news with had been too busy for me to confide in.
“Nova has been working so hard at school and taking extra classes over at Trinity. Which means, my little girl will be graduating an entire year earlier than expected and will start college next fall.” Mom pulled something from a gift bag Lexa handed to her and produced three huge envelopes, each of them labeled with one of the three schools I’d applied to in New York. “And as of yesterday, she’s got her choice of schools begging for her attendance.”
Around us, everyone started talking excitedly, already offering congratulations, but Dad held up his hand, commanding the room effortlessly. “And since my little princess will most likely be back East come the end of the school year, her mom and I wanted to make sure that her final few months with us are carried out in style.”
He pulled something from his pocket—a small box that fit in the palm of his hand. Swallowing the lump clogging my throat, I slowly reached for the tiny gift and carefully pulled off the top. Inside was a key fob with the Tesla insignia on it.
“And don’t worry, Ryan. We made sure it was safe enough, even by your standards.” Most of the crowd burst out laughing, knowing just how overprotective Ryan could get when it came to my safety. I forced a smile when Dad looked down at me expectantly. “When you move to New York, we’ll have it delivered to you if you want. But I know the boy won’t let you drive it much, so you can keep it here to have when you visit.”