Page 4 of Replay

I froze in place. This voice wasn’t Madeline. It was male and impossibly familiar. I never thought I’d hear it again in this lifetime. I’d been counting on that. My eyes opened so wide I must’ve looked like Bambi. What the fuck?

Hookup guy stepped around Madeline and I immediately regretted every life choice I’d made that brought me to this moment. Most especially the ones that resulted in the hobbit slippers and baggy sweats I was wearing, as well as the hair that needed washing and the lack of makeup. Damn it. If I was going to meet Josh again, I was supposed to look hot, in a skintight dress with heels, perfect hair and makeup, not like a hobbit after an extended visit to Mordor.

And damned if that devastated, heart-ripped-out feeling wasn’t trying to make a replay in my chest. Fuck no.

“You two know each other?” Madeline leaned back against the breakfast bar. Even tousled, she was sleek and put together. Josh was wearing a short-sleeved button-down with jeans, his brown hair a mess. He was taller than I remembered him, and the shirt didn’t hide how broad his shoulders were or the biceps stretching the sleeves or the sweetness in those brown eyes…

Ugh.

I needed to salvage this situation. I’d only been rooming with Madeline a couple of weeks so far, and I liked this place, especially the discounted rent. Housing prices in Toronto were stupid. If Josh messed this up for me, I’d throttle him with my power cord.

“Yeah. We knew each other in high school.” There was no reason to tell her that we’d dated for two years.

“We went out for two years and then broke up.”

Thanks, Josh, for making it as awkward as possible. Madeline looked between the two of us, eyebrows raised. I, however, got stuck on that phrase. We broke up.

I didn’t want to drag this out. I wanted to hide in my bedroom and try to pretend he wasn’t about to hook up with my roommate. But some things I couldn’t let slide. “No, Josh. We didn’t break up. You broke us up. I didn’t get a say in it, remember?”

His brow scrunched in his I’m thinking expression. I snorted.

Madeline chuckled. “Oooh. Drama. I’m here for it.”

I didn’t know her that well, and I didn’t want to air my dirty laundry in front of her. I took a step to slink away, but no. Josh was busy rewriting history and not thinking about my situation at all.

“Katie, it was the right thing to do.”

I exerted admirable control by not throwing my laptop at his earnest, confident face. It was a close call though. My knuckles showed white as I reminded myself of the cost of a new laptop.

“Was it, Katie?” Madeline asked.

I couldn’t let him congratulate himself on his wisdom. I’d just clear that up so I could leave, Josh and Madeline could get back to what they’d been doing, and I wouldn’t find myself looking for a new place to live.

I narrowed my eyes at my ex, hoping to laser my displeasure into him with my glare. “Josh thought so. He was being scouted for the NHL draft, so I guess he didn’t need his tutor anymore.”

He made a hurt noise in his throat.

Madeline turned to him. “Wanted to be free to fuck around, Josh?”

I could have cheered. Madeline was on my side, even though I wasn’t the one planning to give her orgasms. Maybe I should, because right now I loved my roommate.

“No!” He almost shouted, which was pretty rich. He was here precisely to fuck Madeline.

The only reason the two of them weren’t already naked was because of Claire and Jamie and my stupid decision to watch one more episode. “Oh, really?”

With me and Madeline staring at him, he finally realized just how precarious his position was. He ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his face. I didn’t let the familiar gesture fool me into lowering my guard. Or my laptop.

“Okay, this looks bad. And yeah, I’ve hooked up. But that’s not why we—” A growl from me had him course-correcting. “Not why I broke up with you.”

Madeline looked like she only needed popcorn to be having a full movie experience. “Why, then?”

He looked at me, as if asking for permission. I lifted my chin. Up to you, buddy.

He turned back to her. “It was our senior year of high school. Katie was accepted to a bunch of schools, and some of them were offering her scholarships. I didn’t want her to make a decision on a school because of me.”

There was a moment of silence. Madeline looked at me, and I nodded. “Yep, that’s what he said. In a text.” The pain of reading that still hadn’t faded as much as I wished.

Madeline’s eyes rounded.

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