Emma:
“Emma, what did you just do?” Alex’s tone held the same shock his expression did, but I didn’t care. Hell, I wasn’t sure what he even saw.
“Go away, Alex.” My teeth chattered in the cold November air, but the icy bite of it did help cool the embarrassment of the night.
“Emma, did you just pay Cornelius to be your boyfriend?” His tone had changed to something more serious, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about, but like everyone else, he had no clue.
“Go home, Alex. Whatever you saw—it wasn’t real.” I grabbed my bag. All I wanted was to get back to my safe place.
I watched him step in front of me, his body blocking the path like he had every right to stand there and demand answers. Alex had always been like this—protective in a way that felt suffocating when I was alr
