Discomfort wriggled in me, and I straightened myself up to banish it, heading for the other end of the bar where one of the managers stood.

A brief conversation with her confirmed that everything was up to scratch, and with a word of thanks, I turned to get out of there before Natasha came back. I’d successfully avoided her all night, and though I was sure my luck would run out at some point, I wasn’t planning on knocking on its door.

Brock, it seemed, had other plans.

He pushed off the bar, striding toward me like a bullet. Pretending I didn’t see him, I kept moving for the stairs.

“Lila,” he called.

But it was loud, so I kept walking as if I hadn’t heard.

His hand on my arm was unfortunately unavoidable.

I stopped. Turned. Looked down at his hand, which he removed with a slide, his fingers tasting the shape of my forearm before dropping away.

“Are you all right?” he asked, brows drawn.

“What do you care?” I asked back with a calm I didn’t feel.

“A lot actually.” A pause. “Listen, I know this isn’t easy—”

“Don’t pretend to understand how I feel. Now, if you’ll excuse me—”

“No, I won’t excuse you. Because I know you’re not okay, Lila.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because contrary to your belief, I do care.”

A humorless laugh shot out of me.

At least he had the decency to look remorseful. “I’m sorry for this. For all of it. I just wanted you to know.”

“You mean you wanted me to let you off the hook.” I stared at the stranger before me, finding the truth of that accusation all over his face. “I can’t believe you. You really expect me to clear your conscience? Because I may be a lot of things, but a liar isn’t one of them.”

Rather than flinching like I’d hoped, he drew himself up to his full height, eyes narrowing. “This … none of this is what I thought it would be.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“When she came to me—” He caught himself, pausing to reorient what he’d been planning to say. “None of the reasons make sense to me anymore, Lila. I can’t seem to understand how we got here.”

“I’d be happy to remind you. I’m sure Natasha wouldn’t mind either.”

His eyes narrowed. “Do you always have to be such a bitch? Jesus, Lila, I’m trying to apologize.”

“And I’ve already told you, it’s not accepted.” I tried to turn, but he hooked my arm.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I wouldn’t have even come tonight if I could have avoided it. But then again, I didn’t realize your fuckboy would be here, or I wouldn’t have felt so bad.”