Chapter 61 Alec
SIXTY-ONE
ALEC
Summer’s eyes widen. “Nothing!” She sparkles at me.
She’s lying. She only does that smile when she’s pretending to be happy. “Is it bad news?” I take her hand. “Tell me.”
“No! No, not bad news.”
“Is it another article?” She doesn’t answer. “Tell me, Summer.”
“It’s not bad news. The opposite, actually.” She gives me a dazzling smile. “I’m officially uncancelled.”
“What?”
“Lulu flipped the narrative. Now everyone thinks me having a meltdown was iconic instead of pathetic. There’s a hashtag trending.” Her throat bobs. “S-sad girl glam.”
“Sad girl glam?” I repeat, incredulous.
“Crying in designer clothes is now in, apparently. My follower count has shot up as well. Lulu called. She’s setting up a party to celebrate.”
“A party?”
“Yep.” She fidgets again. “On Saturday. Apparently, that’s when I’m set to hit five million.”
It takes a second for that to compute. “But you’ll be here.” She doesn’t answer. “You’re going back to London for it? Will you come back afterward?”
She gently extricates herself from my arms. “For the last day of my trip? Not much point really, is there? Um, I’ll go make some tea.” She heads to the kitchen.
I follow her, my head spinning.
She’s leaving.
She’s leaving in just a couple of days, and she isn’t coming back.
“I’ll be sad to leave early,” she continues, filling the kettle. “But it’s too big an opportunity to miss. I need to reestablish myself in my career, you know? This is my chance to start fresh.” She turns on the kettle, and a low hiss fills the room.
I watch her silently. My chest aches.
I can’t stop her. But God, right now, I want to. I want to make her stay. She potters around the kitchen. Her makeup is smeared, and her damp hair is starting to curl. She’s so beautiful.
Overhead, thunder rumbles through the sky again. My head snaps to look out of the window. The rain is lashing down now. Jesus, it’s getting closer. Fear grips me. My breathing gets faster.
Suddenly, Summer is in my arms. I jolt as she cuddles me.
“Everything’s fine,” she says, burying her face in my chest. “No offence, but I think you, like, super need to go to therapy about this.”
As I hold her, the realisation washes over me like a warm wave. I can’t let her leave. She’s so good. Kind and sweet and generous. She makes me feel happy. It’s been a long, long time since I felt that.
I shift her in my arms. “Stay,” I manage.
She looks up at me. “What?”
“Stay. Here. With us.”
Her eyes widen. “What?”
“You can go back for the party if you want,” I say. “But let us come with you. And then come back to Lochview.”
A lot of emotions cross her face very fast. For a second, I think she’s going to say yes.
Then she steps backward, out of my grip. “Why would you ask me that?” she demands.
I’m at a loss. “Because…I want you.”
“I have a job. My career is important to me. This has been…I mean, the best few weeks of my life. But I’m not going to move to a different country just to have casual sex with you all. I can’t just be on holiday forever.”
I’m screwing this up. “I don’t mean as a holiday.
I want you to move in with us, as our girlfriend.
” Her mouth falls open. “You can do your work here,” I say, the words tripping out of me.
“Whatever you need, we’ll get for you. When you need to go back to London for events, we’ll take turns travelling with you. But Lochview could be your home.”
“Your girlfriend?” she repeats, her eyes wide. “I’d have three boyfriends?”
My mouth curves. “I think we might just be able to keep up with you.”
She’s silent for a moment. “But…what about Fraser and Cameron? What about what they want?”
I tuck some hair behind her ear. “Sweetheart. You seriously think Fraser will say no?”
“Well. No,” she admits. “But Cameron might. He doesn’t date.”
“Cameron will say yes.”
“You say that, but you don’t know.” She pulls away from me. “You can’t invite me to move in with you. We’ve only known each other a few weeks. You might change your mind and not want me anymore.”
“Not possible.”
“Very possible, actually.” She gives me a stunningly bright smile that breaks my heart a bit. “People do that. A lot.”
I think of her millions of fans turning on her for nothing, and I’m suddenly furious. “You belong here, Summer. You belong with us.” I catch her hands between mine, keeping her in place. “Please. Stay.”
She looks up at me, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths. She looks confused, like she can’t believe this is happening. I relate. I’m confused too. But I know I’m doing the right thing. She has to stay.
“You…really want me?” she says slowly. “Are you sure?”
“Christ, Summer. Aye, we want you. I already can’t imagine living here without you.”
She thinks for a few long moments. My heart is beating fast. I don’t know what I’ll do if she says no.
I don’t know what happens if she decides to leave, and we’re left here alone again.
I think of it; Fraser miserable, Cameron silent, me working every day away without any of her glimmers of sunshine.
I don’t want to go back to that. I don’t know how I didn’t see it sooner.
“We have to talk to Cameron and Fraser first,” she says eventually. “They have to agree.”
Relief slams into me like a lorry. “They’ll agree,” I promise. “You want to call them now?” I pull my phone from my back pocket. One glance at the screen shows no bars. “No signal,” I say. “Must be the storm. But they’ll say yes, Summer.”
She worries her lip. “Even Cameron?”
“Aye.” He’s been head over heels for her for a long time now. “I’m sure of it.”
She smiles, looking a bit dazed. “Wow,” she whispers. “Three boyfriends? What an overachiever.”
I can’t help it. I start to laugh. That warm, golden-sunlight feeling is flooding me, filling me up inside.
Summer’s eyes soften. “You’re so beautiful when you do that.”
I just scoop her into my arms, making her squeak. I carry her back to the living room sofa, letting myself fall backward onto the cushions with her on top of me, and drag her in for a hard kiss. When I pull away, her face is pink, and her lips are swollen from mine.
She shivers, laying her head on my chest. “Wow,” she whispers. “I never thought I’d have three people who wanted me.”
My heart feels like it’s going to explode. I drag the blanket off the floor and carefully drape it over both of us. She snuggles into me, letting her eyes fall shut. Outside, the harsh crash of the rain softens to a distant rush.
“You know,” she murmurs, “I feel like an objective observer might say you just did a little bit of begging.”
“Dream on,” I tell her, pulling her in for another kiss.