The Stars We Steal by Alexa Donne

Author:Alexa Donne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HMH Books

Seventeen

I followed the wet slapping of Carina’s feet until I caught up with her at the lift bank. Her red-rimmed eyes told me there had been tears, though it seemed they were brief. Now she was just hiccupping sporadically. Without words, I handed her a towel, then her shoes, and we made our way back to the Sofi.

To add insult to my sister’s injury, we were staying in Elliot’s old room. There was no escaping him. She threw herself down on one of the beds, coincidentally the one where he and I used to sleep.

“I feel so stupid,” she groaned into the pillow.

“You shouldn’t,” I said. “Elliot led you on. And when I told him to let you down gently, I did not mean in public—”

Carina whipped around. “Wait, you told him to do that to me?”

“No! Well, yes. Kind of. It’s really complicated.”

My sister sat up and leveled me with a stare. “Explain.”

I sat down on the bottom bunk opposite her, buying myself time to work up my courage. I wanted to tell her everything, but I was used to telling her nothing, so it was hard. Unnatural.

“Elliot and I used to have a thing, as you know.”

“You told me it was over,” she said.

“I know. It is. But things were a bit more . . . serious between us than you knew. And it ended dramatically.”

“What does that mean? Leo, just tell me.”

I took a deep breath and let it tumble out. “We were engaged, back when. But then we weren’t. I’m sorry I never told you. Anyway, Elliot was kind of bitter about it, so when he came back here, he was trying to make me miserable, and one of the ways he did that was by saying yes to you at speed dating. I scolded him soundly for it, for toying with your feelings, and told him to let you down gently—”

“Whoa, whoa, Leo.” Carina held out her arms, as if to brace herself against the onslaught of information. “You were engaged to Elliot?”

“Uh, yeah. Surprise?”

Carina furrowed her brow. “Did you lie to me? When you said you were over Elliot? You let me throw myself at him, with speed dating and everything else?”

“That was before I knew Elliot’s agenda, though. I know I should have told you about the engagement, been honest, but I want you to be happy and—”

Next thing I knew, I was engulfed in a tight hug, Carina having thrown herself practically on top of me.

“You’re such a good sister,” she said into my hair. “But you’re also a huge idiot.” She pulled back with a disapproving look. “You should have told me. I would never hurt you, not on purpose. Unlike some people.” She frowned. “Our cousin is such a witch. She knew, right? And she’s been throwing herself at him too.”

I nodded. “Witch, though?”

“Well, she is family,” Carina reasoned. “Now you’re going to tell me the full story of you and Elliot. I need to know exactly what I was stepping in the middle of.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.