Page 113 of The Book Club Boyfriend

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She’s not wrong.

“I can’t believe you didn’t come to the game,” she says now, twisting a straw wrapper between her fingers. “Bennett said Chase was off all night. Like, epically bad.”

I stab a piece of pancake. “Yeah, well.”

She watches me. “You talk to him?”

“No.” I shove the bite in my mouth and immediately regret it—it’s too sweet and I have a lump in my throat the size of Texas, and now I have to swallow this.

Lucy doesn’t say anything. She just refills my mimosa and pulls her phone out to scroll, giving me space without disappearing. It’s the exact right move, which somehow makes me want to cry more.

I glance at my phone for the first time all day.

1 unread message from Chase Remington.

I freeze. I haven’t read through all his messages—haven’t wanted to.

My heart does that awful stutter-jump thing it always does around his name. Like it hasn’t figured out he broke it yet.

I stare at the screen for a long time before opening it.

Chase: I don’t have a good excuse.

I should’ve told you about the bet the second the stupid words were out of Ty’s mouth. Before you ever became real to me.

And you are. You’re the most real thing in my life right now.

You were never a game. Not for one second.

I’m sorry I made you feel that way.

You don’t have to forgive me.

But I needed you to know the truth.

All of it.

Mythroat tightens.

I blink down at the screen, trying to breathe through the ache in my chest.

Lucy leans over to peek. “Is that…?”

I nod, not trusting my voice.

She reads it quietly, then sits back, giving me a soft look. “Okay, I know I said I was team ‘throw him off a cliff,’ but… that’s a pretty damn good apology.”

I press the phone to my chest and stare out the window, lips trembling.

“I don’t know if it changes anything,” I say finally.

“No,” she agrees. “But it’s a start.”

And the worst part is… it feels like a start.

And that might be even scarier than if it didn’t.

When I get home, I immediately call Harper.

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