“Cool.” He nods like he gets it. “You must be super important to Miller.”
There’s some awkward laughter.
Lily breaks the tension when she asks, “Michael, do you want something to drink? Maybe a ginger ale?”
“That’d be great.”
She looks at me.
“I’m good.”
“Are you sure?” Her eyes dart to Sunny, then back to me.
It takes me a second to get what she’s trying to do. I slap my thighs and stand up. “Actually, I’m kinda thirsty, too. Brett, you wanna take over my hand? Michael’s kicking my ass, here—I mean, my butt.”
Brett and I switch places. “Sunshine? You wanna come?” I ask her.
“Sure. That’d be great.” She fingers the ends of her hair, a sure sign she’s nervous.
Brett decides he might need a snack, which makes Michael think about it, and in the end we get a list of things, which Sunny promptly types into her phone. Then we go in search of a vending machine or the cafeteria. As soon as the room door closes, Sunny grabs my hand and pulls me toward the stairs. In the stairwell, she lets go and steps back until she’s leaning against the railing.
She gestures to my face. “Your nose looks good. You can’t even tell it was broken. Alex has this bump. I don’t think it’s ever gonna go away, not without surgery.”
It’s quite the ice breaker. “Uh. Yeah. It healed well.”
“Alex had bruises for, like, forever.”
I’m glad I caused him more damage than he did me. “Michael and I had a promo shoot today so they put makeup over the bruises. But they’re almost gone.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms over my chest. “How’d you know I was gonna be here?”
She ducks her head and toes at a black spot on the tile. She’s wearing a pair of silvery fabric shoes and fitted jeans that hug every defined muscle in her long legs. Her T-shirt is pale pink, the outline of her nipples visible through her asshole sports bra—not that her nipples are my main focus. It’s all of her. I stand there absorbing her, the smell, the sight, the foreignness of the emotions I’m processing after not seeing or talking to her for two weeks. I almost miss her reply.
“Michael told Lily’s cousin you’d be here. Lily thought I should come so I could maybe see you and apologize, but now that I’m here, I’m not sure it was such a good idea. Maybe I’m making things awkward. I should probably go—”
She moves to take a step around me, but I grab her wrist and stop her.
“Apologize for what?”
“For hurting you. For not trusting you and listening to Lily and Alex instead of staying strong and doing what I wanted.” Sunny’s thumb brushes along my wrist.
It’s hard to focus on her words with all the feels going on. I let go of her hand and shove mine in my pockets to stop from hugging her, and maybe rubbing up against her since that’s what my dick wants me to do. “Which is what?”
She ducks her head again, her voice dropping to a whisper. “To be with you.”
“What about Bushman Tiny Dick?”
“What?”
“Kale.”
A door opens somewhere above us, the metallic clang a reminder that we don’t have much privacy. This is a much bigger conversation than a few minutes in a stairwell.
“I don’t want to be with him.”
“But you let him take you back to Guelph.”
“Because Alex insisted.”
“You were the one who said you should leave.”
The patter of feet coming down the steps halts our conversation. We move aside to let the couple pass.
Sunny waits until the sound of another steel door opening and closing confirms we’re alone again. “I didn’t want you two to fight anymore. You’re both hotheaded. I made a lot of mistakes that day.”
Another door opens and the sound of male voices filters through the stairwell.
Sunny sighs. “How long are you staying in Toronto? Can we talk after your visit with Michael?
“I have to be back at the airport around six thirty.”
“That early?”