Right on cue, Lavender looks up at us, meeting my gaze again. She pulls a face, like ‘what do you want?’， and my stomach sinks. All at once, the realisation hits me.
I can’t do this again. I can’t go through another wedding, another divorce. I can’t lose a whole other life. I’m falling for Layla, and that’s dangerous. Why the Hell would things work out with her any better than they did with Amy? Apparently, I’m excellent at ignoring red flags, and there are plenty when it comes to Layla.
She’s my former student.
She came to me for help.
She’s never had a boyfriend before.
Oh; and our entire relationship has been completely fake.
Amy grabs my wrist again. “I just want to help you,” she says for the fifth time.
“Don’t touch me.” I shake her off. “Amy, the last thing I want to do today is criticise you. But I will not listen to you talk about any former student like this.”
She rolls her eyes. “You are so freaking whipped. For God’s sake, just—”
“Hi, guys. What’s going on out here?”
I turn and see Josh’s brother Rob striding towards us, his expensive suit rumpled. Immediately, Amy lets me go, standing back so she’s a respectable distance away from me. “Hi, Rob,” she coos. “I was just chatting with Luke, here.”
Robert looks at me, his eyes questioning, and I sigh. “Amy was just—” telling me I’m a gullible idiot that will die alone. “Berating me on my tie choice.” I say stupidly.
Rob laughs. “Damn. You never can get away from that, then?” He clears his throat. “Listen, mate, I just saw your girl come through here. She looked pretty upset. I didn’t want to tell Josh, we’re gonna need him in a few minutes for the toasts, so—”
My heart drops. “Upset how?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “She was like, almost crying. I tried to talk to her, but she ran off.”
“Sounds like she drank a bit too much of our champagne.” Amy pats my arm. “Go look after your date, Luke. I’ll see you later. Enjoy the rest of the wedding.”
I nod jerkily, and she drags Rob back towards the party, giving me one last firm look over her shoulder.
As I watch her back disappear, my phone buzzes with a notification. Swallowing hard, I hook it out of my pocket. I have messages from Layla and Zack. I check Layla’s first.
LAYLA: I’m going home. Give my congrats to the bride.
I stare at the screen. What? Why the Hell would she be going home? Did something happen? Flipping back to my texts, I scan through Zack’s messages.
ZACK: check Laylas ok
Alarm blooms in my stomach. I type out a response.
LUKE: What happened?
ZACK: we fcked
ZACK: then i told her it was over
ZACK: im done being her tutor or whatever
ZACK: she was mad
ZACK: and sad
I squint at the messages for a few seconds. Up until now, Zack had been doing surprisingly well. He usually really struggles on the anniversary of Emily’s death, but I thought maybe the wedding was providing him with a good distraction.
I guess not. It looks like the shit has finally hit the fan. I tap the phone icon to ring him, and he declines the call.
Swearing, I go back to our text thread.
LUKE: You slept with her, then dumped her?
LUKE: Why on Earth would you do that?
ZACK: didnt dump her, wasnt dating her
ZACK: go talk to her
ZACK: im going out
LUKE: No. What is wrong with you? Come back and apologise to her.
He doesn’t respond. I try to call him again, but the low beep on the other end of the line tells me he’s turned his phone off.
Cursing, I slip the phone back into my pocket and head towards the lobby lifts. I guess I’ll have to sort this out myself.
SIXTY-FOUR
LUKE
There’s almost no one in the hotel; most of the guests and staff are at the party, so I make my way up to our hotel room quickly. When I open the door, Layla is standing in the middle of the room, packing. Her suitcase is set on the bed, and she’s shovelling in handfuls of clothes and toiletries haphazardly.
She looks up when I step inside. “What?” She snaps.
She sounds angry, but her eyes are puffy. She’s been crying.
My heart twists. All I want to do is step forward and fold her up in my arms, but after my conversation with Amy, I’m scared to. Clearly I’m a total idiot when it comes to relationships. I don’t trust myself anymore.
I clear my throat, keeping my distance. “Zack texted me. He wanted to check if you were okay.”