“Felicity.”

I turn my face to look at him. We’re lying in the dark, holding each other close. Both pretending that dawn isn’t creeping closer with each passing moment. Both in denial that a few brief hours from now…

He’ll be gone.

He runs his fingers through the loose tendrils of hair framing my face, fanning across the pillow in a dark wave. His expression is indecipherable.

“What is it?” I ask softly, my words barely above a whisper.

“Ask me to stay.”

I jolt. Of all the things I expected him to say, that wasn’t even close to the top of the list. Heck, it was the last measly line, penciled in halfheartedly at the bottom. And yet… my answer is there instantly, poised on the tip of my tongue.

Stay with me.

Stay.

Stay.

Stay.

But I know that’s not the answer I can give him, however much I’d like to. I haul in a deep breath and try to compose myself before I respond.

“I can’t do that,” I murmur.

“Why not?”

“Because I l—” I swallow down the word I want to say, the word I should say, because that word that scares me worse than anything else in the world. That word means surrender. It means relinquishing all boundaries. Giving yourself over completely to someone else and trusting they won’t destroy you.

I’ve seen firsthand what that word can do when placed in the wrong hands.

I banish it to the back of my mind, pull in a breath, and restart. “Because I care about you too much to see you give up on something you’ve wanted forever. You’d always regret it if you didn’t at least try.”

And eventually… maybe not right away, but eventually… you’d resent me for convincing you not to go.

The thought nearly breaks me. As hard as it is to imagine him leaving in a few hours, we both know it’s the right choice for him. The only choice. Cuddled close to his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat, I ignore tomorrow and focus on the present.

This. Us. Now.

There’s nothing else.

My eyelids are growing heavy and I’m half-asleep when he shocks me with one more question.

“Felicity?”

“Mmm?”

“Come with me.”

My eyes spring wide. My neck cranes back so I can see him properly. If his first suggestion was scribbled at the very bottom of the list of possibilities, this one isn’t on the list at all. It’s so far off the list, at first I think I’ve misheard him. And yet… my response is ready on my lips in the span of a heartbeat.

Yes, I’ll follow you anywhere.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

But I know that answer would be just as bad as the first. Maybe worse. So, instead, I lean in and press a soft kiss against his mouth to temper the blow as I reply.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“LA isn’t for me.”

“Have you been there?”

“Nope.”

“Then how do you know you’d hate it?”

The parties, the drugs, the traffic, the vapid materialism…

I swallow down my list of insults regarding his soon-to-be home and shrug lightly. “I’m an introvert.”

“So? Why should that matter?”

“Spoken like a true extrovert.”

He snorts. “Felicity, be serious.”

“I am being serious! I don’t drink, I never party. I don’t even own a cellphone. I like reading books and writing in the park. My dream day involves a swim at the lake, a pretty sunset, a guitar, and a warm bonfire sparking up toward a sky full of stars.” My voice goes soft. “Does any part of that picture bring LA to mind?”

“Not exactly.” His lips twist. “But tell me, in this dream…”

I arch my brows.

“Are you alone? Or is someone sitting at your side by that fire, playing that guitar on the side of that lake?”

“Um… maybe there’s someone with me.”

Maybe that someone is you.

“We could make new dreams,” he murmurs, his eyes almost pleading. “Start fresh. A whole city to explore. Think about it.”

“Ryder… I can’t leave. I just got here. I’m finally settling in, finally building a life.” His mouth opens to object, but I barrel on. “And I know you’re going to say I could do that anywhere… but I don’t want to do it anywhere else. I like Nashville. I like being able to visit my grandmother on my days off. I like working at this bar. I like hearing music in every shop and restaurant. I like the rowdy tourists and the honky tonks and the bright neon lights.”

“I get that. I do, but—”

“No.” My voice gets quiet. “I feel safe here. And for me, a girl who spent pretty much her whole childhood never feeling safe… that’s huge. It’s everything.” I smile, even though I want to cry. “But you… you’ve been safe your whole life. That’s why you’re so desperate to get out of this town. For the first time, you’re choosing a path that isn’t safe, one that’s scary and unsettled and full of adventure. And I’m so, so incredibly—” Heartbroken. “—happy for you.”

A deep sigh rattles his chest. “Opposites attract, I suppose.”

“So they say.”

“I— I don’t want this to be goodbye.” His mouth hits my hair, breathing me in. “I don’t want to walk away from you when the sun rises, not knowing if I’ll ever see you again.”

“I know. Me neither.” A few rebellious tears trickle from the corner of my eye, despite my best intentions to keep them at bay. “But you and me… we suffer from a case of bad timing.”

“Ships passing in the night?”

“Star-crossed lovers.”

“Scorpius and Orion,” he mutters darkly.

My brows lift. “Who?”

“The constellations.” He pauses. “Orion only comes out in the winter; Scorpius can only be seen in the summer. They never appear at the same time, because they’re constantly in different hemispheres. Two opposites, forever chasing each other across the cosmos.”

My tears drip faster against the skin of his chest.

His mouth drops to my ear, rasping deeply.

“Don’t worry, Felicity. For you, I’d move the stars.”

* * *

Despite my determination not to fall asleep and waste even a minute of our time together, at some point I must drift off because I wake to Ryder’s lips on mine, kissing me awake. My eyes slide open to look at him and I feel the smile fall off my lips.

“You’re dressed,” I whisper, scanning him up and down. He’s fully clothed, sitting beside me on the bed stroking his fingers through my hair. His bruises are worse in the light of day, but at least some of the swelling has gone down.

“I have to go.”

“Already?”

“My plane leaves in less than two hours,” he says, voice aching with regret. “If I don’t go now, I’ll miss it. If I don’t go now…”

He’ll never go.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep!” I bolt upright, scrambling for my clothes. I yank my sleep shirt over my head and try to locate a pair of jeans. “Give me two minutes to get dressed. I’ll come with you to the airport, we can say goodbye at security—”

“Felicity.” His hands lock on my shoulders, stilling me. “Stop, sweetheart.”

I try to be brave, but it’s useless. I can feel the tears gathering in my eyes even before they lift to meet his. “You don’t want me to come?”

“If you do, I’ll never get on the damn plane.”

“But—”

He doesn’t wait for me to get the words out. His mouth comes down on mine and he lets the kiss speak for him. His lips say all the things we never got the chance to, all the things we might’ve shared if we’d only had better timing or better circumstances. I taste goodbye on his tongue, bittersweet. I try to memorize his smell — smoke and spice. The way his beard feels when it scrapes my skin. How his eyes look in the faint morning light, mismatched and mesmerizing. I lose hold of my composure as he pulls back. When the tears begin to roll out, he cups my cheeks and kisses them away.

“I wish…” he murmurs, eyes scanning my face.

…I could stay.

…You would come.

…We had more time.

“I know. Me too.” I brush my mouth against his one last time. “Now, go. Get out of here, before you miss your plane.”

He takes a step away from me, hesitating a beat before his hands fall to his sides. I try to pull myself together as we walk to the door. I don’t want the last image he has of me to be a sad one — red-faced and tear-stained. The smile on my lips is wobbly, but it’s there.

I open the door and we step out onto the landing. The pale morning sunshine streams down all around us. I crane my neck up so our eyes meet.

“You’re going to kick some serious ass out there in LA, Ryder Woods.”

“Thanks, Felicity—” His brows pull together. “You know, I don’t even know your last name.”

Acting on autopilot, I start to give him the fake one I’ve been using, but I can’t bring myself to lie to him.

“It’s Wilde,” I tell him, offering my hand like we’re two strangers meeting for the first time.

“Felicity Wilde?” His palm engulfs mine as a smirk plays at his lips. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I’m serious.”

“You realize your name literally means happy-crazy?”

“Well, now I do.”

His eyes narrow. “You sure you’re not giving me something fake, so I can’t track you down?”

“I swear,” I say, choking down a laugh. If only he knew…

“Felicity Wilde,” he murmurs, shaking his head like it’s the most amusing thing he’s ever heard.

“Uh huh. Don’t forget it when you’re a famous rockstar.”

God, I wish my voice didn’t break.

The amusement fades from his gaze. “Not a chance in hell I’ll ever forget you.”

My eyes are starting to well up again, so I jerk my head toward the stairs. “Go. You’re going to miss your plane. I mean it.”

A deep sigh moves through him. With regret etched on his features, he makes his way down my stairs. Pausing at the bottom, he casts one final look up at me. There’s nothing he can say. No promises he can make. No vows he can take. Just one thing left to say.

“Goodbye, Felicity.”

My throat seizes up as I watch him walk out of my life. I wait until he’s around the corner, out of view, before I exhale the ragged sob I’ve been keeping inside my throat.

Goodbye, lover.

* * *

I spend the rest of the morning curled into a ball on my bed, hugging a pillow that still smells like him tight against my chest, watching the seconds tick by in slow circles on my silver watch face. Unmoving, I count down the hours until noon. Until I know, with absolute certainty, that he’s on that plane. Out of my life.

Gone.

Three tiny drops of blood on my pale blue sheets are the only evidence in existence that, for a single night, Ryder Woods was mine and I was his. Well… in addition to the dull ache between my thighs and the faint hickey mark on my neck. With time they’ll fade, and everything will go back to the way it was before I met him.

But nothing, nothing, will ever be the same now that he’s gone.

Eventually, I force myself to stop moping — more out of necessity than actual desire. I shower and dress for my shift at The Nightingale, sliding into my crop top and booty shorts with a grimace. No matter how many times I wear this outfit, it never seems to improve.

It’s a busy night at the bar. I’m so occupied filling orders, I barely have a chance to talk to Carly at all. She’s equally busy handling the stage, ushering different acts on and off with a tenacity I admire. I don’t let myself think about Ryder or what he’s doing, because I’m nearly positive crying into people’s cocktails would have a detrimental effect on my tips. I paste a smile on my face and put a bounce in my step as I flit through my section, grabbing empty glasses and refilling baskets of bar peanuts.

It’s almost closing time when Adam walks up to me, a pissy expression on his face.

“There’s a phone call for you.”

My heart leaps at the news. I feel a grin tugging at my lips. “Really?”

“You can take it in my office,” he grumbles. “But let’s not make this a habit, okay? You’re here to work, not chit-chat.”

I practically fly to the back room, running down the hall to Adam’s office like I have wings on my heels. There’s really only one person I can think of who’d know to call me here. My pulse pounds faster as I try to imagine what he’s going to say to me. Snatching the receiver from its cradle, I press it to my ear.

“Hello?” I say, breathless with anticipation of hearing Ryder’s rasping voice.

There’s total silence on the other line.

“Hello?” I repeat, feeling some of my exuberance drain away. “Is anyone there?”

Silence.

My grin starts to slip as worry overtakes the joy I felt mere seconds ago. My hand curls tighter around the plastic receiver.

“If no one’s there, I’m hanging up…”

The familiar dark chuckle makes my blood run cold.

“That’s no way to speak to your father, Felicity.”

I slam the phone down so hard, it rattles a stack of papers off the desk. Staring at it like a spider, I feel my limbs turn to lead. I’m completely paralyzed as my mind turns over a single thought on repeat, like a record player stuck on a loop.

He found me.