Page 51 of Keep Me

I clenched my jaw, not wanting to answer and trying to think of any other reason they’d be so flirty, but I came up short. Britt sat next to Erik in class, he was showboating to her right now. Hell, shetoldme they were seeing each other, so there was no way to play it off like anything else.

“Yup,” I muttered, and Jackson leaned back into his chair.

“Tough break.” He clapped my shoulder as he took a bite of my one-hundred-dollar hot dog. “I know you think she’s the one,but there are plenty of other girls that would want to have their way with you.”

“I don’t want them.”

Jackson sucked in a sharp breath, and when I said nothing, he took a swig of his drink, making that obnoxious slurping noise. Then he wrapped his arms around Tanner and me.

“You know what, boys? We haven’t celebrated our new roommate status since we got here. Let’s go out tonight.”

“What are you talking about? We’re already out,” Tanner stated.

“Yeah, but the game’s almost done, so we might as well go to Covey’s Cantina and have a little fun before the start of our season.”

“I’m good. I’ve got stuff to do at home,” I stated. What the fuck did I have to celebrate? That I was lonely and fucked up the one thing that mattered.

“Jackson’s right. Thea’s still there.” Tanner sighed, looking at me with sympathy. “She mentioned that we needed to be out of the apartment for a few hours so she could do a few things.”

Jackson screwed his face. “What on earth is she doing in our living room, because if she’s having an orgy, I will never forgive her for not being invited?”

Tanner rolled his eyes and shook his head. “She’s tanning.”

“As in fake tanning?”

Tanner shrugged. “Yeah. I think she took your polar bear comment to heart.”

Jackson huffed out a breath. “When is she going to get her own place?”

“Soon. Once I can find a room for her, she’ll be out, but until then, I think we should let her have this. Otherwise, she’s going to be in a terrible mood, and I really don’t want to have to deal with that.”

Jackson rolled his head to look at me. “What do you say, Mathieson? Covey Cantinas or risk seeing Thea naked and semibasted.”

“Jackson!” Tanner warned, but as usual, he didn’t heed it. He kept looking at me with a grin stretched across his face.

“Fine.” I pretended to focus on the game so the guys wouldn’t ask more questions about Britt, but really, she was all I could think about.

Maybe we weren’t supposed to be each other’s endgame. Maybe she was better off with someone else. Maybe it was time to face the facts.

Britt was over me.

Too bad I’d never get over her.

Chapter 11

My heart was beating so loudly it was thumping in my ears. No noise was filtering in. The only thing going on repeat in my mind wasOlana’s pregnant, Olana’s pregnant, Olana’s pregnant.

I cringed, merely thinking about how Matty confirmed it but acted like it wouldn’t stop his relationship with me. How could he think I’d be okay with being with him after he’d knocked up another girl? His long-term, on-and-off again ex, no less.

My knees knocked and my heart raced like I’d just run a marathon. As I entered the arena, the cheers of the crowd reverberated through my bones, but I was far from excited.

I was absolutely crushed, and my anxiety was at an all-time high. Not only was I unprepared to hear everything he said, but I’d also lied to him. It wasn’t just a lie, but it was a terrible one at that. I’d only spoken to Erik for ten minutes at most, and now he was my boyfriend in Matty’s eyes.

Talk about falling into old habits. Last time I used a guy to distract myself from the actual object of my affections, he fell in love with my roommate.

The lie felt different this time, though. Matty and I had been together intimately. We might not have had sex, but it was close enough, and he just admitted he couldn’t stop thinking about me.

I closed my eyes and sighed. I’d only wanted him to stop talking. I didn’t want him to convince me we could somehow still be together. That the fantasy of us being a couple would come true.

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