Page 140 of Can't Text This

My heart is hammering in my chest, and I pray she doesn’t hear it.

Tonightwasnice…until Brandon ruined it.

He won’t keep his mouth shut about this. If there’s anything I learned when he was Xavier’s teacher last year, it’s that this dude is a douche with a capital D. We butted heads…a lot.I’m fairly certain he hates me too, because I wasn’t afraid to call him on his crap.

He will rat us out. There’s no way he won’t.

He’ll wait though. He’ll drop the bomb when we’re least expecting it, let us get comfortable and close and fall completely and utterly in love before pulling the rug out from under our feet.

I can’t let that happen.

“You okay?” she asks as we approach the bike.

“Yeah, everything’s great,” I tell her, giving her the best smile I can muster and throwing my leg over the seat. “I’m great.You’regreat.”

“I know.” She winks and gives me a saucy grin before sliding her helmet over her head and climbing on behind me.

There’s something different about her on the ride home, and not just because she has her arms outstretched against the wind as we barrel down the highway.

It’s more than that.

She seems so…free. Adventurous.

Ready for whatever life throws her way.

And she needs that right now.

Because tonight? Tonight is going to be the last time I see Monty for a long damn time.

I just don’t know how to tell her that.

* * *

“I did something really fucking stupid.”

“Color me surprised,” my best friend says with a lopsided grin.

When I don’t laugh or even smile at his remark, he sobers up, sitting straighter in the chair and turning all his focus on me.

It’s Monday morning and I’m sitting on the other side of Zach’s desk at Embody Positivity.

Considering we spent the better part of the last several years running his business from his basement, it’s weird to see him behind a desk again.

But here we are.

And here I am asking for his help…again.

“What happened?”

“Monty is Xavie’s teacher.”

Zach’s right bushy brow rises, but just the right one. “How long have you known?”

“Long enough—almost a week.”

“And you’re just now telling me why?”

“Because it’s fucking complicated, you ass. The fewer people who know about it, the better.”

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