Page 66 of Even Exchange

“Dandy.” My skin crawls at the way his eyes wander over my body, and I point behind me. “Well, we’re gonna?—”

“Wait. Can you give us a minute?” he asks Andi, finally acknowledging her existence. She folds her arms over her chest and smiles, unmoving.

Atta girl.

“What do you want?” I ask, already irritated by his mere presence.

“Come on.” He steps toward me, and I back away. “It doesn’t need to be like this.”

My body flushes with heat. “How about it’s likethis: I pretend you don’t exist. And you go fuck yourself.”

“Wow.” He rolls his eyes. “And here I thought we could be adults about this.”

“Adults?” I scoff. “You cheated on me for months, and I’m supposed to what? Act like it never happened? Likeshenever happened?” I ask, voice cracking.

“Indifference,” Andi grits through her teeth in my ear.

“It wasn’t all my fault,” Jonathan says, and my eyes roll to the back of my head. “Just let me explain.”

“Keep telling yourself that, buddy.” I grit my teeth together, jaw aching. “You can keep your bullshit explanations.”

Kendra walks up beside him, snaking her arm around his waist and flattening a hand on his chest.What the hell is she doing here?My eyes drop to her Andrews University Cheerleader T-shirt.

He didn’t screw some random college girl. He screwed a cheerleader. How stereotypical.

Kendra smiles up at him. “Ready for lunch,babe?”

“Sure,” he clips. She stands on her tiptoes and angles his face to hers, and he kisses her as if I’m not standing here. As if the girl he made years of promises to marry and build a family with isn’t directly in front of him, still recovering from watching that fantasy be demolished firsthand. As if the last time I saw them together wasn’t when he wasinside of her!

Nausea creeps up my throat when he slides his arm around her waist, tugging her close. My eyes fall to his thumb rubbing circles on her hip.The same way he used to do to me.The ghosted memory of the sensation dances over my own skin with awareness.

I’ve spent so much time being angry. Almost so much I forgot to let the hurt in. But seeing him holding her the way he used to hold me, giving her the same affection that used to be mine? It fucking hurts. It’s taking everything in me not to shatter like the cup I broke on Noah’s floor. But Jonathan doesn’t deserve the satisfaction.

Andi coughs loudly and exaggeratedly.

“Oh,” Kendra says, turning her attention to me with a condescending smile. “Didn’t notice you there.”

“Can we not do this whole ‘I’m gonna pretend I didn’t fuck your boyfriend’ thing?” I ask, all traces of sadness gone, replaced by a dragon-sized flaming anger.

She blinks at me. “Well, he’s not your boyfriend anymore… so…”

“You’re right. Congrats,” I say, huffing a laugh. “Got yourself a real prize.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find someone else,” she says, patting Jonathan’s chest. “Eventually.”

“What part of this conversation makes you think I’m single?”Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“You’reseeing someone?” Jonathan asks, disbelief flickering in his expression.

My hands tremble, anger thrumming my veins. “Not that it’s any of your business,” I snap, my heart pounding ferociously against my rib cage. “Butyes, I am.”

His jaw clenches. “Who?”

“More like who cares?” Kendra grumbles, tugging him to leave.

Jonathan stands firm. “Who?”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

---