Alec
If I had to watch Bryson pull Navi against his chest and slide his arms around her waist one more time, and lean so close his breath made her hair move, I might kill him. That was all. Apparently the girl who haunted my nightmares brought out the violent side in me because I'd never wanted to hurt someone so many times in one single night.
Especially someone that, until today, I had considered a tolerable friend.
Bryson and I never really hung out. He was… not my type. At all. There were times I wondered if he was really even straight. But now, with his hands all over the girl I found myself desperately wanting, that question was answered. Not the way I'd hoped to have my doubts laid to rest, though.
And Navi. She was still my Angel. She still sang so sweetly it brought peace to my soul. Watching her with Bryson hurt. It was almost unbearable, which might explain the violence. Except when she sang, I forgot the pain. I knew the line between love and hate was a thin one. I knew that I hated her so much because I'd been so completely in love with her before she'd hurt me. Apparently, the hate had faded but…
There was a chance love hadn't.
I wasn't sure what had happened.
I watched her laugh, pushing the hair away from her face and behind her ear, and I wondered how in the hell it was even remotely possible that I was still in love with her. Yeah, I'd gone up to Alaska to try to find her. That hadn't been cheap. Or easy. But I'd had questions I needed answers to. Not because I was still…
Yeah. I'd gone to Alaska because I was still in love with her.
I sat back and blew out a breath like I was being deflated. I was still in love with her. After all this damn time.
"So." Josh sat on the couch next to me. "You sang one. I'm impressed."
I grimaced. "I had to. It was a duet. I didn't want her to sing with Bryson."
"But he sang anyway." Josh frowned, as confused as I was about why Bryson had felt the need to join us.
"I know," I growled. Violent side, yet again.
He looked from me to Navi and then raised an eyebrow. "You're… watching her like a hawk. Ya know, for a guy who isn't dating her. Like at all."
I swore. "He's all over her. Why the hell doesn't she stop him?"
Josh shrugged. "Maybe she likes it. Girls like Bryson, Alec."
Again with the ice through my veins. "But she—she doesn't."
Josh smirked—apparently he could hear the blind desperation in my voice as well as I could. We both turned toward her, me with panicked eyes that I wanted to hate myself for but didn't, and Josh with critical, appraising eyes that had no trace of panic at all. Did he not realize what was on the line here?
"Well, she does seem like she moves away from him every chance she gets." Josh nodded. "Maybe she really doesn't like him. If that's the case, and you think you might want another shot with her, you should get her away from him, huh?"
Yeah. That would be nice. But I had no idea how to do that without starting some Navi tug-of-war in the middle of the party. And she, apparently, hadn't realized that she was still in love with me.
But she had to be, right? I couldn't feel like this alone. It had to be a two-way thing. Because otherwise, I was lost. Completely, devastatingly lost.