Page 74 of Unloved

“Okay. That’s fine. I just want you to know I’m here, and I’m a good listener.” I sound so much like Archer that my teeth ache and I quickly add a flirty, “At least when it comes to you.”

Her eyes close tightly, squeezing back tears, and she clings desperately to the smile on her face.

“Good night, Freddy.”

She’s gone before I can say another word.

CHAPTER 27Ro

“What next?”

I blush and toss my phone down before haphazardly grabbing it to click the screen off. Sadie eyes me strangely from where she’s pouring herself a decaf coffee from our old Nespresso. It’s ten o’clock at night, but I’m not tired, and I know Sadie wants to stay up with me. Even with how deeply tired I can tell that she is.

When she offered to have a girls’ night with me at the cafe earlier, after I confessed to the official severance with Tyler, I was more thrilled than I let on. I’ve missed her—I’ve missedthis. Movie nights and laughs and loud, ridiculous karaoke sessions. I’ve missed Sadie, but I would’ve been happy if her brothers were here, too. They’re just as much a part of my Waterfell family as she is.

But this, just us, girl time, is filling my heart with pure joy.

“Hmm?” I ask, distracted by the image still assaulting my brain. I can turn the phone screen off and away as much as I want, but the image is stuck behind my eyes.

Matt Fredderic sent me a photo. Of himself. Shirtless. With a Hello Kitty tattoo on his pectoral. I’ve seen him shirtless now, but not slick-wet with sweat, the camera angled down toward a very suggestive V, only cut off by the thick hockey pants he’s wearing. Somehow,thataddition only made it hotter.

And now, I’m sweating.

“I asked whether you want me to tattoo your face now or later,” Sadie deadpans. All I hear istattooand my face goes red as I picture Freddy again, the whisper of his fingers on my hip bone, his breath over my skin. The fading crown that’s still there.

“Earth to Ro-row-row-your-boat?” Sadie laughs, sipping on her coffee noisily as she sits back on our makeshift pallet and turns the movie credits off. “Distracted much?”

“No,” I say too hastily.

She flips through her Spotify playlists on the TV, finally selecting one appropriately called “BOYS SUCK,” and letting ABBA’s “Chiquitita” play over the speakers. I laugh and Sadie grins.

“Are you ‘Chiquitita’-ing me?”

“That’s not a word,” Sadie argues. “But yes. I’ll keep playing it louder until you tell me what happened with you and Tyler.”

I shake my head, but my smile is too big to contain as she turns the volume up. “Liam is gonna be sad he missed this.”

Instead of agreeing, Sadie takes her phone and films a clip of us sing-shouting the words and dancing, texting it to Oliver with a quick message to show it to Liam. And that she loves and misses them both. My heart clenches tight, a sliver of guilt forming because I know she’s not with them only to keep me company.

“I’m really okay,” I say, trying to convince her, and maybe myself. “He sucks and this should’ve happened a long time ago, honestly.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

I smile at her haughty attitude, now that she’s finally allowed to show her distain for Tyler more openly. “You didn’t have to stay with me tonight.”

She turns the volume down and collapses beside me, our heads side by side.

“I need you sometimes, too, you know,” she says quietly. “I know I’m not the best at it, but you’re my best friend.”

My eyes and nose burn sharply, but I shake my head.

“You’re a great friend.” Memories of her flash across my eyes, days when I’ve broken down over missing my parents, over Tyler’s hot-and-cold behavior, over feeling like I’ll never be enough. And no matterwhatwas happening in her messy, chaotic life, she’s always been there to hug me. To lift me up and tell me to be a badass. “You’re my best friend, too.”

Our hands find each other in the air over our heads, fingers winding together as her upbeat playlist continues to thump in the background.

“So… are we gonna talk about Rhys?” I watch her from the corner of my eye, seeing the emotions she’s trying to stifle dance over her features. An almost giddy happiness at the mention of the hockey star, before a shuttering regret and pain. I don’t want her to be sad. “Have you guys hooked up?”

“What? No.”

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