Page 103 of I Could Be Yours

“Nothing anymore.”

“Your decision or hers?”

“Hers.”

“Did you help make it for her?”

“Probably.” She would know when love is real and when it isn’t better than me. “I hurt her a long time ago. Maybe this is karma’s way of getting me back.” She set the parameters from the beginning. She was clear about what this should be. About what we could be.

He passes me the bottle again, but I decline. “I’m going to take my black cloud back to my room.”

“Sometimes things look different in the morning,” he says.

“Yeah. Maybe. Thanks for everything this week. I know you’ve been pulling strings.”

“Anything I can do to make my friends’ lives better and piss off my parents is a win in my book.”

“I’m sorry they’re assholes.”

“Me too. But I’m glad I could be helpful. I hope tomorrow brings fresh perspective.”

“I hope so, too.” Although I don’t see how. “’Night, Connor.”

I leave him on the beach and return to my room. It looks like a Brody bomb went off in here. Clothes are draped over every surface, and six pairs of shoes lie in a heap in the corner. I don’t have the energy to tidy up, so I leave it all where it is.

I change into shorts and a T-shirt and grab all the mini bottles of booze from the fridge. I can’t get the look on Essie’s face out of my head, or the conviction in her tone when she told me I was wrong. That I couldn’t possibly love her. I’m too broken. Too messed up. Too closed off and guarded.

Essie calls, but I can’t handle more rejection, or worse, her checking on me to make sure I’m okay. So I polish off the little bottles of liquor, hoping I can get drunk enough to shut off my brain.

Brody stumbles into the room a long while later. “Bro!” He weaves over to the bed and flops down beside me. “What are you doing in here?”

“Bed was calling. This is my room.”

He rolls onto his back. “Everyone’s boning tonight.”

If I’d kept my stupid fucking mouth shut, I’d be with Ess right now. “Yup.”

“But not you.”

“Not tonight. Why aren’t you out there?” I ask.

“I was done being social. Some girl was chatting me up.”

“Someone named Tally?”

Brody snorts a laugh. “Dude, you know as well as I do that Tally is all about someone else.”

I crack a half smile. “You think so too, huh?”

“Oh yeah, the way she looks at him?” He blows out a breath. “Besides, I’m all about someone else, too.”

“You want to talk about that?” Anything to keep my mind off Essie.

Brody folds his arm behind his head. “I just have so many fucking regrets, you know? Like, I fucked up so hard in high school, and now we’re at the same university, but I’ve already blown my chance with Enid.”

“You don’t think it’s fixable?” I’m the last person who should be giving him relationship advice.

“Would you get over it if the girl you crushed on fucked around with one of your best friends?”

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