Page 104 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“Clemens. I’m not coming to your wedding. Not because our past is complicated but because you’re an asshole,” she uttered coolly. “And I can’t believe I ever even liked you because now I only feel contempt for you and pity for the woman who is ready to marry you. Probably because she just doesn’t know you well enough yet.”

And this time it felt right. To leave. Not like with Matt earlier. This time there was nothing left to say. Nothing left to discuss. No more arguments to end.

Not like with…

“Shit,” she whispered and rubbed her eyes.

She shouldn’t have run away. She should have let Matt talk — no,sheshould have talked! She should have told him exactly what she thought and fought for what she wanted.

Instead, she had just accepted it. She’d longed so much for peace that she’d left rather than stay and argue! And that was…stupid.

Because the last few weeks hadn’t just been the best of her life. She knew that. She wasn’t wrong! Just like she knew she’d been with Clemens. He just wasn’t the man she thought he was. But Matt — she knew Matt. She knew everything there was to know about him.

First, he was a huge scaredy-cat.

She sniffed…and then she smiled.

Chapter 29

“Hm, that didn’t turn out the way I imagined,” Dax murmured thoughtfully. “I thought she would understand.”

Matt didn’t reply. He held his head in his hands, concentrated on his breathing, and tried to fight the panic that had muddled his brain for two hours. He wasn’t succeeding. The feeling was as penetrating as Dax’s voice.

Why did he…why…

“I mean,” Dax continued unmoved, gently patting him on the back. “Maddie is always so sensible. I totally assumed that she would be okay if you changed your mind. That she would be fine with you just being friends again, if you were to make that suggestion to her…”

"Youadvised him to do that?” Lucy cried out, horrified. Matt had no idea why she was in his apartment. Her voice was even worse than Dax’s, maybe because she was telling the truth. “Are you completely crazy? Good grief, the one time you were left unattended. Dax, just because we’re together doesn’t mean you’re a relationship expert!”

“But you are, or what? I’m your first long-term boyfriend, too!”

“I’m not an expert on relationships, but about all things Maddie-related, you idiot! Goodness, that’s what happens when you leave two men alone for too long. And I can’t believe you seriously suggested that to her, Matt.”

Yeah, neither did he.

He’d been scared, though — and there was doubt in her eyes.Herdoubt, which scared him far more than his own ever could. After all, he would never have any!

“I mean what was going through your head?” Lucy continued angrily. “You won’t find anyone better than Maddie.”

“I know that,” he said with a clenched jaw.

“So what was the problem then? Why did you hurt her so much that she turned off her phone, fled, and, apparently, doesn’t want to talk to anyone?”

He narrowed his eyes and clenched his hands. “I…I need her in my life.”

“Naturally, so the best thing to do is to toss her out of it!”

“I didn’t…”

“Yes, you obviously didsomething!”

“Yes, I… Damn it, stop it, Lucy!” He dropped his hands and glared at her. “Do you think I need your help to feel like shit? No! I was afraid, okay? I was afraid she’d change her mind. That, at some point, she’d get tired of me pushing her to argue and tell the people in her life the truth. That she’d…give up on me. If we’re only friends, that day will never come! Because it doesn’t affect her. But, if we’re together and I’m too much for her…” He shook his head. “So, yes, I was scared and told her that we should go back to being friends and…”

“Well, that was incredibly stupid of you,” a female voice said.

Matt jerked his head up — and his heart stopped.

Maddie stood in the doorway with a key in her hand and her arms crossed over her chest.

---