Page 28 of Spring Break with a Bass Player
SAIGE: Why?
BRIDGER: Because I haven’t stopped thinking about it
BRIDGER: You let go tonight
SAIGE: Too much
BRIDGER: Why? Because I feel like the luckiest son of a bitch that you trusted me enough to do it
SAIGE: I freaked out
BRIDGER: And I just need to get you to run to me instead of away from me.
SAIGE: Why?
BRIDGER: Because I can’t help myself when it comes to you
BRIDGER: And I can see you’re trying
BRIDGER: If you’re in, I’m in.
My heart poundsin my chest as the mattress pump turns off and the room falls silent.He’s giving you an olive branch.
SAIGE: I’m in
18
BRIDGER
“So, are we just gonna pretend you didn’t fuck things up with my sister?” I ask evenly, making Corbin whirl around to face me.
“She said that?”
“Of course she didn’t say that—she didn’t say anything—but I’m not an idiot.”
I probably shouldn’t have opened this particular can of worms, but I need a distraction from the fact that I haven’t been able to grab five minutes with Saige in the last few days.
I’manxiousto see her.
And my best friend has the unfortunate luck of being the only one here. Lettie said she needed to grab a few things at the store, but that was hours ago.
He blows out a breath and drags his hands down his face. “She’s never going to forgive me.” His shoulders slump as he finally meets my gaze. “I don’t know what to do, man.”
Well, shit.
This is definitely more than I bargained for.
Taking a deep breath, I hold up my hands, palms facing out. “I don’t want details, and Lettie is obviously a big girl and canmake her own choices, but please tell me it meant something and wasn’t just some off-the-cuff hookup.”
“Of course it meant something,” he barks, the wordsit meant everythinglingering in the air unsaid. “She just blindsided me in the morning, and everything with the band, my mom’s new boyfriend, and then all the shit with Heather still feels fresh and I just…” He blows out a breath. “And at like five in the fucking morning she wanted to talk and I wasn’t thinking and it all happened so fast. I kept saying the wrong thing, and now she won’t let me say anything at all.”
My chest constricts with a potent mix of sympathy and rage because I get it. The thing with Heather had been over for a while, but she’d been a nasty kind of toxic that he hadn’t been able to escape, and while my sister is nothing like that, it’s a lot to process. Throw in things with his mom and us moving to Love Beach, and I’d be struggling too.
Hell, I am right now just waiting to see Saige again and confirm we’re really okay.
“Do you want me to talk to her? Trick her into coming over and then lock you two in a room until you hash it out?” I offer, because honestly, I’m at a loss.
“She’d kill me and then you as soon as she picked the lock and got out,” he says wryly and I snort.
