Page 32 of Forgotten Prejudice

“Oh, Chief.” Zoe came to a sudden stop.

“What is it?”

“We’re going to have a wedding. It will be very small, but still.”

A breeze blew between us and scattered her curls in the air, and I focused on them instead of the bitterness filling my gut.

A wedding, huh?

There were a few times where I pictured my own wedding. It would be held on the same cliff my parents got married on, and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elvis would be playing because it was my favorite song in the world. There would be no walking down the aisle or reception, no cocktails, just me and him. Although, the idea of me getting married felt so unreal and faraway that I couldn’t even bring myself to picture the face of the man I’d want to marry. Would he be like Kai? Young and spontaneous? Or maybe like Soren, calculated and serious. Yeah, right. Keep on dreaming, Ash.

“Will you come?” Zoe asked, bursting my fantasy without even trying.

I looked down at the ground and bit my lip. “Of course I’ll come.” Forcing myself to smile, I met her eyes. I knew I didn’t fool her and that she quickly detected my pain, but she said nothing, and I appreciated it.

“Thank you.” She moved to wrap her arm around mine as we started walking again. “I missed you, you know?”

I was about to answer her when something caught my attention.

Someone.

“I-I’ll speak to you later,” I told Zoe before brushing her off me and walking straight toward Soren, who was waiting for me with his back leaning against his car. The closer I got to him, the faster my heart beat until my chest grew tight and my throat went dry.

Finally reaching him, I stopped with my hand gripping the straps of my backpack.

“So it’s true,” he said, pushing back from his car. “You really are in high school.”

Since he wore sunglasses, I couldn’t see his eyes, but I didn’t need to see them to know he was angry.

“I-I can explain.” Looking over my shoulder, I saw Zoe was still where I’d left her, watching us. “But can we do it somewhere else?”

Soren studied me carefully, the muscle in his jaw tensed before he tilted his head toward his car.

“Get inside.”

Ash

Soren drove us back to his condo in complete silence, leaving me alone to assume what was going on inside his head. Not taking off his sunglasses, he hardly even glanced my way. It was a good thing because I wasn’t sure I could look him in the eyes with the amount of guilt eating me.

While driving, I considered if I should tell Rob I wouldn’t come to work today. Yet, the tension in the car was so high that I was too uncomfortable to even pull out my phone, so I couldn’t. I felt bad for bailing on my shift, but not nearly as bad as for lying to Soren.

After he parked his Ferrari, Soren got out first. I would have stayed in the car if it hadn’t been for him waiting for me. But he did wait, so after taking a deep breath, I followed him out.

Entering his house, he locked the door behind us, then walked straight to his kitchen, where he pulled out a bottle of wine along with a glass and filled it up. Only that he didn’t drink and, instead, finally took off his sunglasses.

“I can’t believe that you lied about something like that.” He pushed his fingers through his black hair, then placed both his hands on the marble island. “It’s one thing to lie about you being a freshman, but a high school student?”

Soren had every right to be furious with me. In fact, I was shocked he’d brought me back to his place instead of breaking up with me in the parking lot, considering what I’d done.

Looking anywhere but at him, I held on to my bandaged wrist and applied just a little bit of pressure. “I planned on telling you.”

“When?”

He sounded so angry, and I grabbed my wrist harder as guilt continued to bite me from the inside.

“I don’t know.”

Soren let out a deep sigh, and I made the mistake of looking up only to see the disappointment in his eyes. Shaking his head, he pulled something from his pocket and tossed it my way. I caught it in time, then looked down to see my wallet.