Page 84 of Aiden & Lily

Reese shifted uncomfortably. “We weren’t in a good place when you and I were together.”

“Oh.” Lily looked between them. “So you knew each other well?”

Reese’s jaw tightened. “We were best friends in high school.”

“That’s quite the coincidence.” She smiled, but the happiness didn’t reach her eyes.

Reese kept his attention on Aiden. “Except it isn’t, is it?”

Aiden’s blood ran cold at Reese’s statement.

Reese tilted his head, studying him. “You knew. Maybe not everything, but you knew Lily and I had been together.”

Lily went still beside him. Her head snapped around until her blue eyes found his.

Aiden could only bear to meet her gaze for a few seconds before his stomach dipped and he started to feel sick. He had imagined this moment so many times, but none of those versions had captured the quiet hurt in her face.

“Aiden?” she whispered.

Reese cleared his throat but said nothing more.

“Is that true?” Lily asked.

Aiden chewed on the inside of his cheek, his eyes drilling into Reese. He couldn’t even blame the guy. Reese was the better man. That was how it had always been. Back in the day when they’d had their falling out, Aiden hadn’t been able to handle when people compared him to anyone. And that had included Reese.

He wasn’t proud of the choices he had made. He had grown in some ways, but clearly not enough to keep fear from hurting the woman he loved.

Not enough to deserve the trust she had placed in him.

Lily’s fingers loosened around his.

“Aiden,” she said again, this time with more hurt than confusion.

He swallowed hard. “Lily, I?—”

The words failed. Panic took over before good sense could stop it. Aiden released her hand and stepped around Reese to head for the front door.

“Aiden!” Lily called after him.

He heard Reese’s low voice and her responding to him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Aiden needed to clear his head before he had the conversation he knew he couldn’t avoid any longer.

He had come to the party believing he might ask Lily to spend her life with him.

Instead, when she needed the truth, he ran.

24

LILY

Lily yanked her hand free from Reese’s grasp. “I have to go talk to him.”

“I don’t think he’ll be ready for that conversation, Lils.” The pleading look on Reese’s face caught her off guard.

“Why are you trying to stop me? He needs…” She cut herself off. That wasn’t the point. Aiden might be hurting, but so was she. “I need answers. And you don’t know…”

“But I do.” Reese lowered his voice. “I grew up with him. I know the kind of guy he was after high school.”

“You knew him years ago,” Lily hissed. “That doesn’t mean you know everything about the man he is now.”