Page 92 of The Breakaway

I froze, my whole body starting to tingle. “No!” I answered too brightly, plastering a smile on my face. Weird Sharla. This was what Crystal was talking about, but I couldn’t stop it. “You just drove me to the hospital.”

He took a few steps into the room. “Yeah, you just seem . . . I don’t know. Mad or something.”

I scoffed. “I’m not mad.” He watched me unsmiling. “It’s just been a long day.”

Rob nodded. “Yeah. Seems like you’re feeling better?”

I blinked. Right. This morning. I told him I was sick. “Mmm, yep. Didn’t last long, thankfully.” My eyes dropped to the letter on the counter, and I swung them away, my heart thunderous.

Rob’s eyes narrowed. He walked forward, stopping at the island. When he reached out, I jumped.

“Don’t—!” I froze, my hand hovering over the card. I almost choked on my own spit.

“Don’t what?” Rob’s jaw tensed.

I pulled my hand back, shoving it in my pocket. “Not until New Year’s, right?” I squeaked.

Rob’s throat worked. “Right.” He dragged the card toward him and flipped it over. The “V” on the envelope fell open. His eyes flicked to mine, and my heart dropped to my feet.

I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”

Rob stared at the ripped envelope. "I asked you to wait."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "I know. I couldn't."

Rob dropped the letter onto the countertop, running his hands through his hair. "Well, now what the hell am I supposed to do?" He turned away from me, bracing himself on the countertop.

"Rob, just?—"

He held up a hand, cutting me off. It felt like someone slammed a hammer into my sternum. I'd seen Rob pissed off before. I'd seen him annoyed. Frustrated. But this was something entirely different.

With his head hung low and his back expanding with rapid breaths, he looked broken, tortured. Every one of our memories together over the past month seemed to crumble away, turning to dust in my hands and slipping through my fingers.

"It's fine, really.” My voice shook as I tried to sweep it all up and compress it back into something solid.

"It's not fine.”

“We can just pretend I never saw it. We can go back to normal. It wouldn't be that hard."

If I was being honest, ever since that night in my room, I'd been lying to myself. I'd been ignoring the truth that was right in front of me. Of course, the possibility that Rob felt something for me had popped into my head.

Because I felt things for him.

It wasn't just physical attraction. I'd gotten good at rationalizing that away, at pretending it didn't exist, at finding a thousand other explanations for what happened inside of my body whenever he was close. And for the things he did that didn't make any sense, I could keep doing that for another couple of weeks. Until Logan got back, until Rob moved out.

I could barely draw a full breath. I didn't want him to be gone, and I didn't know if I wanted Logan to be back.

Rob turned to face me, crossing his arms over his chest. His fingertips pressed so deeply into his skin, the nails turned white. "I can't pretend. I can't go back."

"So what was your plan then? I would read this after you were gone, and you would just never see me again?"

He looked up. "Yeah, exactly." He stalked to the other side of the island, putting the full slab of granite between us.

"Rob, I'm at every game. I go to the after parties?—”

“We were pretty good at avoiding each other before."

I wet my lips. The lump in my throat was growing so big I thought I might asphyxiate. I threw out my hands. "So all of this is just gone?" I motioned at the Christmas decorations but I meanteverything.The conversations we'd had, the things I'd shared with him, the things he knew about me that I hadn't told anyone else.

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