Chapter 33
chapter thirty-three
LEO
“Oh my god.” Miles puffs out as he rests his hands on his knees in the middle of the gym. “Just talk it out already. I can’t deal with this moody shit anymore.”
“Such compassion,” I spit out. But I can’t exactly dispute it.
It’s been two weeks since Marisol left town. She and Sabrina headed back to Sorrento the morning after Sabrina’s party, and I haven’t been able to think straight since. Boxing usually pulls me out of my head, but even that isn’t helping.
“Come on,” Miles says, pulling off his gloves and sitting on a small bench. “What’s going on with you?”
I blow out a breath and sit down on the bench opposite him. “I fucked up.”
Miles nods slowly. “Take me to the start.”
I accidentally bark out a laugh, and he frowns. I look at him as I contemplate where I should start. But if there’s anyone who will understand the position I’ve found myself in, it’s Miles. “It was all fake.”
“What was?”
“Marisol and I.”
His eyes widen. “What?”
I hang my head back as I prepare to give a brief summary of the last few months. “You remember that first article about us? When I picked her up from the club in Sorrento?”
“Yeah.” He nods.
“That was real. She called me after she got in some trouble, and I went and got her.” God, that night feels like years ago now.
“Right.”
I blow out a breath. “Right, well, that kind of blew up, and it was the first time in months that Marisol’s name was mentioned in the media without her past attached to it. I mean, there were still mentions of her downfall, but that wasn’t the base of the story.”
Miles nods along, his brows pulled together as he listens.
“So she…propositioned me, I guess. She asked me to be her fake boyfriend for the sake of her career.”
“How does having a boyfriend help her career exactly?” he asks.
“It’s about publicity. No one knew who I was, so every time we were pictured together, it created this buzz. People were talking about her again. And the more her name was out there, the more likely she was to be in the right people’s minds when they were looking for models.”
He raises his brows as he tilts his head. “That’s not a bad strategy, really.”
“And it worked,” I add. “She booked jobs, a fashion show, it was perfect.”
“Except…?”
I lean my elbows on my knees, my head in my hands. “Except that fake didn’t really work for me.”
Miles is quiet across from me, and I don’t look up, but his hand lands on my shoulder. “You fell for her?”
I chuff a laugh. “I fell for her years ago, but this time, I actually had her. And it started out as an act—for her at least. But with every touch, every moment, every kiss, it became real for both of us.” I finally look up.
“This sounds like one of those romance novels that May’s got the girls reading,” Miles says, pulling a laugh from me.
“Does the guy always fuck up at the end?” I ask. “’Cause it looks like this is the end of our story.”
Miles shakes his head, his expression suddenly serious. “It doesn’t have to be, Leo.”
“I don’t know how to fix this.” I’ve tried texting Marisol, but she won’t answer me. She hasn’t read any of my messages, except for the one with André Hugo’s name in it. It was the least I could do.
“If you think she’s the one for you—your person—then it’s never really over. I’m proof of that. Four years went by, and it still wasn’t over for Marina and me.”
I shake my head. “Marisol doesn’t want anything to do with me,” I say.
It’s well within reason. She’s right after all, I should have told her.
I thought about it endlessly, but she was moving on from what happened.
She was happy. I didn’t want to bring back that feeling for her.
And I didn’t make any decisions about André, because she’s right. It wasn’t my decision to make.
“Do you think Marina wanted anything to do with me?” He laughs. “She told me to fuck off more than once. But I didn’t go, because I knew she was it for me. If I embarrassed myself by chasing her, then…whatever, because if it ended with her being mine, then none of that would matter.”
My heart begins to race as I contemplate what he’s saying.
“What’s the worst that could happen? She says no, and you’re left in the same position you’re in now? But what if she says yes?”
What if she says yes?