Wrong For You (Before You Series Book 3)(75)

Alec looked over his shoulder. “Baseball fan?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Nope. I hate sports, but it sounded good.” She laughed. “Tell Violet I’ll see her next week.”

“Next week?”

She smirked. “I leave tomorrow, but she’s staying another week.”

“But Taylor said—”

“Violet doesn’t know. It’s my surprise, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to break the news.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought you two would need more than a night to figure out your future. Tell her you’re welcome.” Without another word, she disappeared into the crowd.



***



Ten minutes later, Violet finally talked herself into leaving the bathroom. With her heart pounding so hard she thought she might be sick, she opened the door.

Alec stepped forward, blocking her exit. Overwhelmed, she didn’t know what to say and it seemed as though he didn’t, either. His eyes swept over her body, watching her closely, like he wanted her to be the first to talk.

Violet took a deep breath, sucking as much oxygen into her lungs as she could, trying to steady her nerves. “What are you doing here?” Violet asked.

“Waiting for you.”

“I’m sorry I left.” Her eyes drifted to the floor.

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

“Yeah,” she told him and then took another shuddering breath. “I really do and I’m not talking about after your performance, but after I found out about Chasing Ruin. I should have listened.”

The seconds felt like minutes as she watched his jaw flex and his hand massage the back of his neck. “It’s not your fault. I should have been honest from the beginning or at least before anything happened between us.”

“I’m not mad anymore,” she offered, smiling faintly. “I haven’t been for a few weeks.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually here,” he said, stepping toward her, his hands clenched at his sides, his eyes a hopeful sea of blue.

She chuckled, trying to lighten the heavy air circling around them. “You thought I’d miss a chance to raise money for the Foundation after years of skipping paychecks and working ungodly hours to make sure the kids had a place to go after school?”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I guess not,” he said, his voice suddenly flat and his eyes opaque and unreadable.

She touched his arm. “And I really wanted to see you. I missed you.”

She could see all the questions running through his head, but he remained silent. Maybe that meant they were over and that he wanted to say goodbye forever. She bit down on her lip to keep from crumbling.

“You look beautiful,” he said, breaking the silence.

She smiled cautiously, her lips trembling. “You think so?”

He nodded, taking two steps forward as his hands snaked around her hips. “When I met you I thought you looked like an angel with your long blonde, almost white, hair. You glowed from the inside out and I thought you were perfect. So perfect that I tried to walk away from you and push you out of my life because I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Violet brushed her hands along his stubbled cheek. “I’m not perfect.” If she were perfect, she would have given him a chance to explain, but she didn’t because she was scared. Scared that someone like him wouldn’t want someone like her. Scared that he’d break her when he moved on. Scared that she’d never love anyone except him.

“To me you are, and I knew that someone like me was wrong for you. I have so many secrets, some my own and others piled onto me by my family. I could never let anyone in…until you…and then I messed up.” He closed his eyes briefly as pain washed over his face. “My whole life I’ve been a disappointment.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is. My mother told me she regretted not aborting me.”

Violet’s stomach somersaulted. “No,” she whispered. What kind of mother said that to her child?

“It’s true. Then, the man I loved as a father walked out the door when I told him about Brad. Do you know what he said?”

She shook her head.

“That he couldn’t look at me the same way again. Then he died in a car crash that night. He never had the chance to take it back and honestly, I don’t know if he would have. And Brad…he didn’t want me. He didn’t bother with me until a month ago, and as much as I’d love to have him and my half-brothers in my life, I wonder if they only want to be in mine because of Chasing Ruin. Even so, I invited them to visit in a few weeks.”