"Hey," Ren said quietly. "You good?"
I still had my back turned back at him.
"You didn't have to come out," I said. "You already did enough tonight."
"I came because Dominic told me to," he said softly. "And because… I owe you a conversation."
I laughed bitterly.
"Funny how conversations happen after damage."
"I didn't mean to hurt you."
That sentence.
That stupid, cowardly sentence people use when they don't want to sit in the wreckage they caused.
I spun around so fast he actually stepped back.
"Don't," I snapped. "Don't say that like it fixes anything."
"Ian…I…"
"No." My hand lifted on instinct. "You don't get to soften it with that tone. You kissed her. In front of everyone. Say it properly."
His jaw tightened. "I panicked."
Panicked?
The word echoed in my head like a joke.
I scoffed. "You panicked?"
"Yes!" His voice cracked. "I panicked because I thought I was losing everything."
"And somehow that made hurting me okay?"
