Vain - Part Two (The Vain Series Book 2) by Deborah Bladon Read Free Book Online Page B

about." I dart my gaze back to where Sadie is standing next to Hunter. "My friend has no idea about what we did in Paris. She can't know."
    He nods and looks past me. "You haven't let me explain a thing since you left Paris."
    I pivot on my heel, wanting to turn and walk away but knowing if I do he'll chase me down. This is the moment in time that I've been dreading. It's when I have to face Brighton and finally put all the cards on the table. "Let's go outside." I point towards the door of the restaurant. "This is about to get ugly."
     

Chapter 13
     
    Maybe it was supposed to be like this. Perhaps I was always meant to spend the night of my twenty-third birthday putting the past behind me. I'd been avoiding discussing anything with Brighton to this point and now he'd dropped from the universe into the middle of my birthday party. Tonight I was finally going to get the closure I so desperately needed.
    "I love you, Alexa."
    Oh hell. No. Just no.
    "I love you," he repeats as if I didn't hear it the first time. 
    "What?" I snap. "You didn't just say that to me."
    "I did."
    "Fuck you, Beck." My stomach tenses. "Don't pull that shit on me. You've never loved me. We both know it. You never said it."
    "I'm saying it now."
    My mouth hangs open for a second while I contemplate the words. "Why are you doing this?"
    "I'm being honest," he goes on. "I was a coward in Paris. I'm not that man anymore."
    "You're the same man." My tone is severe and clipped. "You haven't changed a bit."
    He lowers his head and takes a heavy swallow. "She never loved me."
    "Who?" I temper my pitch, not wanting to draw any more attention to us than is already there. Sadie keeps peering through the window to where the two of us are standing on the street in front of the restaurant.  "Liz?"
    He exhales harshly. "She's never gotten over the guy who died in the car that day. She can't get over him."
    "What guy?" My response is intuitive, not introspective. I don't care what guy he's talking about. I don't care about any of it.
    "She was with a man the night she got hurt," he says, his gaze darkening slightly. "He died in the car. She was in love with him."
    "None of this matters to me." The words sound rushed and harsh. They are. I don’t care who his girlfriend loves or who she used to love. I only care about my heart and Beck's the one who broke it.
    "I fucked up in Paris." He shifts his lean body weight from one foot to another. "I brought her to that café so you'd see us."
    "I know." I pull my hand across my face. "Why? Why would you do that to me?"
    He doesn't look at me when he answers.  "I was confused."
    "Confused?" I bite out through clenched teeth. "Confused about what?"
    "I was falling so hard and fast for you, Alexa." His voice is a tempered growl. "I thought Liz loved me and then when I was with you, I saw real love in your eyes. It scared the fuck out of me."
    "Is everything okay?" Sadie's head juts out from around the doorway. "Brighton, is there anything you need?"
    I close my eyes wishing that the last fifteen minutes of my life never happened.
     
    ***
     
    "You can't leave yet." Sadie whines from behind the large wineglass that is at her lips. "It's early still. It's your birthday, Alexa."
    I stare past her to where Brighton is seated. He's talking to a group of people I went to high school with. From the look of awe on each of their faces, they're smitten with his presence. I, on the other hand, have had more than my fill of Brighton Beck for the night. "It's been a long week with work and stuff," I lie convincingly. "I'm going to take off and crawl into bed."
    "What about the painting?" She motions towards the gift that she and Hunter so graciously bought for me. Judging by the cost of Brighton's work, it must have cost several thousand dollars. I know they're not pinching any pennies, but the gesture is too much, especially since the artist in question just poured his heart out to me on the street.
    "Can you take it home tonight and