Page 49 of Keep Me

“I’m not with her.”

“Matty, it’s fine. You don’t need to spare my feelings. I knew the situation I was walking into.”

“I’m not. I’m really not with her. She’s just—”

“I know,” she yelled with her free hand raised and her eyes shut. She was doing everything she could to make it impossible to speak. “I spoke to her.”

“What? When?”

Britt looked at the ceiling. “It was a while ago, but look, we don’t need to talk about anything. I get it. There’s a lot going on. Things between the two of you are complicated, but I’m sure you’ll work it out. You always do.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about? What did she tell you?”

“Enough to know that she needs you right now.”

I clamped my lips shut because I didn’t know how to respond to that. Had Olana told her everything? Was this another bid to try to keep Britt away from me? Olana might have thought she had me on the hook, but her pregnancy didn’t mean a damn thing when it came to Britt and me.

I shook my head. She’d gotten this all wrong. “Britt, how do you not see? It doesn’t matter where Olana or any other girl is on this planet, nothing stops me from constantly thinking about you.”

She stepped back, and I could admit, I was probably coming on a little strong, but what did I have to lose? Pressing her lips together, she closed her eyes and raised her hand.

“I’m seeing someone, Matty.” Her voice was shaky, but I heard the strong conviction behind her words.

Had my heart stopped beating? She reallywasseeing someone. Yes, I might have come over here with all that bravado, expecting her to tell me, but deep down, I didn’t think it was true.

“Are you dating Steele?” I asked it before I could think logically about whether it would do me any good knowing.

Britt’s nose scrunched in that cute way it did when she was trying to hide something. That was all the confirmation I needed. She was trying to let me down gently, hoping I still hadOlana to fall back on because she was already over that one night.

Unfortunately for me, that night would be etched in my memory forever since it was the last time I remembered feeling truly happy.

“Yes.” Her shoulders slumped, and her head dropped. Not the reaction I’d expect from someone in a happy relationship.

“When?”

“Uh, I met him before the wedding in Vegas, then things only progressed when I saw him again a few weeks ago.”

“BeforeVegas?” I croaked out in surprise. She spent that night with me while she was starting something up with another guy? What about all those promises? How come she’d never mentioned him to me before? She told me everything, and she talked about guys she was interested in all the time. Erik Steele never came up.

Fuck, I wanted to punch a wall, but the damn hot dog and slushy were getting in my way.

“Ye-yeah. But like we said before, Vegas was a heat of the moment kind of thing. We’d both been drinking and weren’t thinking straight.”

“I was thinking perfectly fine, thank you.”

“Yeah, well, still, I think we were both just caught up in the moment.”

Wow. There I was thinking she was my endgame, and apparently, to her, I was just second string.

“Right.” I nodded, doing my best not to show what a crushing blow that was. She had a boyfriend, and it wasn’t me. She didn’t want it to be me either. “Well, are you happy?”

“Yeah,” she drawled out, and I wasn’t entirely convinced, but who was I to say anything? She didn’t want me. That much was clear now.

“Then I’m happy for you.” And devastated for me. This couldn’t be the end for us, but I was playing the long game when it came to Britt. We’d done this dance many times and I was patient. She might’ve believed she was happy right now, but I’d prove her wrong.

“Really?” she asked, surprised.

“Yeah.”

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