“Aww, Bianca.” He exhaled, dropping his head back at the same time as his hand settled over his heart. I’d swear those soft blue eyes glittered and his voice was pained as he said, “You’re killin’ me, kiddo.”

“I don’t want to kill you, and you don’t have to worry about me—”

“Too bad.”

Sometimes I wondered how it was possible for me not to fall in love with the same person once but twice. This was how, by him being so great.

It made me smile even though it was mostly bittersweet. “You’re a good friend, Snack Pack, but seriously, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m lucky that I have places to go, people I can stay with in the meantime. I just hadn’t told you because you have enough stuff to think about, and it isn’t like if I move somewhere else we’ll lose touch again.”

And that reminded me about fucking Jessica.

If that reminded Zac too, it didn’t show on his face at that point. If anything, he got this gleam in his eye that made me worry. “Yeah, you’re right, you got places to go. And none of ’em are that far,” he stated. “You’re comin’ with me.”

“What’s that?”

He was already nodding to himself, because it sure as hell wasn’t to me. He had his thoughtful face on. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it sorted. All you gotta do is be ready to go.”

Did he say I was going with him? “Zac. No.”

His focus was back. “Bianca. Yes.”

“No. I’m not your responsibility. If anyone, Connie’s my big sister and has to worry about me—”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Worryin’ about you is like… lovin’ the goddamn sun on my face, kiddo. Like breathin’. It’s never not gonna happen.” He stared at me with those tight shoulders and tight face, going up to that impressive height that had me straining my neck to look at his handsome face. “Lemme figure it out. Stay with me as long as you need. As long as you want. I guess as long as I’m here and the White Oaks don’t get rid of me.”

There he went, killing me too a little. “Oh, Zac, they’d be stupid to let you go. You and the team are doing amazing.”

Yup, he was still staring down at me.

I cursed. “You’re a sneaky, manipulative little bastard, you know that?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure Mama’s called me the same thing a time or two.”

How the hell had today gone to shit so fast? “I don’t need you to feel like you have to take care of me.”

His shoulders dropped just a little. “Tell me you wouldn’t do the same for me.”

Damn it. He had me there, and he knew it.

His fingers wrapped around my wrist, warm and solid. “And even if you wouldn’t, I’d still do anything for you.” His voice was serious. “Maybe I fucked up and had my head up my ass there for a minute, but I’m always gonna worry about you. For the rest of my life. I’m never gonna be too busy to be there for you. You hear me?”

His words sliced me down the center. Flaying me wide. Leaving everything important and everything not important open and vulnerable.

So all I could do was press my lips together, look up at that face with its immaculate bone structure and straight into those soft blue eyes… and nod.

And all Zac did in that next second was lift his free hand and bury those long, valuable fingers into my hair, cradling the back of my head… and focus down on me.

I smiled, and he… kinda smiled.

Sort of.

It was mostly in his eyes somehow. Something moved in them that I didn’t know what to do with or how to begin to recognize. Something… big.

Before I could think about it too much, those fingertips scratched as my scalp lightly, and he exhaled, his breath touching my mouth.

Oh man.

“Darlin’?”

“Yeah?”

His fingernails scratched a little more. “Now that we got that sorted, you wanna tell me now what happened?”

I was in a daze. His lips were right there… and that meant nothing to him, but it meant too much to me. “With what?”

Those fingers of his did their little scratch thing that I now realized I could feel across the backs of my knees too. “With Jessica.”

Like I’d thought I was really going to get away with not talking about this anymore. Damn it.

Shoulders dropping down and back, I grabbed all of my inner strength and told him—ignoring the scratches that were making my knees weak as much as possible. “You want to know what happened in the bathroom or before?”

He thought about it for a second. “Before.” His exhale touched my mouth again, and I had to remind myself all about my expectations. “I put together enough of it outside the bathroom. I saw Trevor talkin’ to you and thought he’d stick with you, but by the time I went lookin’ for you, he said you’d left. Should’ve gone with you, darlin’, but I needed to understand what the hell she’d been talkin’ about. I had no idea….”

He shut his mouth, and the muscles in his cheeks rippled.

I sucked in a breath that made my eyes water at the reminder of what she’d done.

I still couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know if I ever would.

“She told me,” Zac continued on after a second, in something very, very close to a croak that had me staring straight into those light blue eyes. “Enzo is a good guy. Used to be a quarterback here but he retired two seasons ago. He was tellin’ me all about his new wife and how they were in town visitin’ his family before y’all came out, and how she hadn’t wanted to go to the party but he’d begged her… He made her explain. I couldn’t believe she did that, but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. You said I never wrote you back or answered, and I told you there was no way I would’ve let that happen. I know I tried gettin’ in touch with you too, kiddo. There’s no way I wouldn’t have. And I know that’s no excuse for all of the last ten years, but I really did start to believe there that you just didn’t want me to be part of your life anymore.”

Something terrible and bitter pinched my tongue at the memory of the joy on his face when he’d realized it was me that first day, of how happy he’d seemed to be.

And he’d thought I didn’t want him around?

“Zac, why were you so nice to me that first day if you thought I had felt that way?”

He closed his mouth and looked at me. “’Cause I was happy to see you. I missed you. I wasn’t lyin’. I never forgot you. I asked about you less and less, but I still wondered… when I wasn’t busy havin’ my own head up my ass.”

Tears stung my eyes again at the infinite kindness in him. When I’d seen him, I’d been so hurt, and all I’d wanted was to keep my distance so that I wouldn’t give him the opportunity to hurt me again. And he’d—he’d tried and kept on trying, even thinking I hadn’t wanted him around either.

Of course I was still in love with him. Of course I’d fallen in love with him again. I had no choice.

His fingers slipped from my hair, and he stared at me even harder. “She changed your number in my goddamn phone. Changed my number in yours because she was fuckin’ jealous. Fuckin’ jealous.”