They Read My Secret Crush Story Out Loud At The Party Chapter 02

The man was walking fast. His black jacket, his lean frame—even the angle of his face as he glanced down at his phone—reminded me so much of Julian.

I caught up with him at the elevator and grabbed the hem of his jacket.

“Julian.”

He turned. The face was a stranger’s.

“Sorry. Do I know you?”

I stared at him, then let go and mumbled an apology.

The elevator doors slid shut, reflecting my disheveled face.

Julian Hayes was the son of my family’s former driver.

When I was fifteen, he’d come to our house with his father to ask for help with his school expenses. He’d brought his report card. He was at the top of his class.

I’d watched him from behind the banister.

He was dressed entirely in black, with a small black stud in his ear. He was handsome, but his expression was distant.

For some reason, my heart skipped anyway.

Later, he started coming over to tutor me. I’d deliberately get the last problem wrong, hoping to keep him there a little longer.

Mom noticed.

“Things are different for Julian’s family, Raina. Don’t keep pestering him. You’ll put him in an awkward position.”

After that, I didn’t even dare let him see how much I liked him.

When I was eighteen, his whole family suddenly disappeared. Dad said Mr. Hayes had quit and sternly told me to stop asking questions.

Julian’s number was disconnected. None of my messages got a reply.

I kept wondering whether I’d failed to hide my feelings. Whether I’d made him uncomfortable.

Three years after he left, I met Blake at a dinner party.

He walked through the door dressed in black, a black stud in his ear. His face looked so much like Julian’s that I couldn’t stop staring.

“What’re you looking at?” he asked with a smile.

After that, I started tagging along wherever he went.

But Blake said I was too much of a good girl. He didn’t want to bring me along, so I tried to learn to love the things he loved.

Racing, bungee jumping, skiing, skydiving. One extreme sport after another.

When I first started riding with him, I threw up five or six times. His friends laughed at me.

Blake wiped the mess from the corner of my mouth and sighed.

“What a pain. Next time, just wait at the finish line.”

I kept telling myself to do better. To make myself a little easier to like.

Then at least I could stay close to him and keep seeing that face—the one that looked so much like Julian’s.

My phone rang, pulling me out of the memory.

Blake.

“The car’s out front. Where are you?”

I leaned against the wall. “Be right there.”

He seemed about to say something else, but Sloane’s voice came through first.

“Your turn to drink, Blake. Don’t try to get out of it.”

The call ended.

When I got downstairs, the driver frowned at me.

“Miss, your leg’s bleeding.”

I looked down. I’d split my knee open on the coffee table, and blood was running down my shin.

I’d been in such a hurry to chase that man that I hadn’t even felt it.

I pressed a tissue to the wound. My phone buzzed again.

Sloane had posted a photo in the group chat. She was sitting beside Blake, both of them raising their glasses, his other hand resting protectively on the back of her chair.

My knee hurt. So did my stomach. The tissue was soaked through, and I couldn’t find another.

Before, I would’ve told Blake whenever something like this happened.

Even if he didn’t answer, I’d wait with my phone clutched in my hand until I fell asleep.

This time, I just turned off the screen.

Mom was still awake when I got home. She took one look at me and hurried to get the first-aid kit.

“How’d you get hurt again?”

I didn’t answer. I watched her clean the blood from my leg.

Then she seemed to remember something.

“Oh, Julian’s back in the States. He came by to see your dad tonight. Asked where you were, too.”

My head snapped up.

Mom patted my shoulder, a knowing smile on her face.

“He’s done very well for himself. He founded Avelmont Capital in Port Avelin.”

“And back then, your father…”

She stopped, shook her head, and handed me a slip of paper.

“He left you his number.”

I took it, too stunned to ask what she’d been about to say. My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and typed in the number.

I sent him a text.

His reply came almost immediately.

[Raina Bennett, I’m back.]