I glance over at the spot where we left Brandon, only to find him gone, and the brunette, too.
My heart flies to my throat, and I cross my arms over my chest to accommodate the hollowness inside my chest. “That’s none of your business,” I say, but my voice catches, giving me away.
Ethan studies my face for a moment, then laughs before he states the obvious, “You’re in love with him.”
Chapter 38
BRANDON
Ipace the narrow confines of Tatum’s dorm room, five steps in one direction before spinning on my heel and retracing my path. My fingers rake through my hair for what must be the hundredth time, leaving it standing in all directions. The adrenaline from the game has long since faded, replaced by a gnawing anxiety that tightens my chest with each passing minute.
How is it that every time I’ve planned to tell Tatum how I feel, something or someone derails me?
This isn’t how tonight was supposed to go, but from the moment I found her waiting for me in the parking lot and she suggested I hook up with some random chick, something had felt off.
“She should be back by now,” I mutter, checking my phone again. No messages. No calls. Nothing.
When I knocked on her door an hour ago, her roommate Brit had answered with a knowing smile.
“She’s not here,” she’d said, stepping aside anyway. “But you can wait. I’m heading out to meet Tyler.”
Now the small room feels like it’s shrinking around me. Her desk and the floor beside her bed are covered with romance books. It feels like they’re mocking me, because my happily ever after feels about a thousand miles away.
I shouldn’t have left her there with Ethan, but what choice did I have? If I had stayed, I would’ve broken his nose for a second time—or worse—because the sight of him standing there, looking at her like he had any right to her, made my blood boil.
I reach a hand to the back of my neck and squeeze as I picture the look on Tatum’s face when she talked about seeing other people. It’s like she could sense my feelings for her and wanted to let me down easy. Like what we had was just some casual thing she was ready to move on from.
I stop at her desk, my eyes falling on a framed photo of us from last fall. Her arms are wrapped around my neck, both of us laughing at something I can’t remember. What I do remember is how it felt to hold her, how perfectly she fit against me.
“Dammit,” I growl, pulling out my phone again. My thumb hovers over her contact, needing to hear her voice. But if I call, and she’s with him . . .
The door swings open, and I spin around so fast I nearly trip over my own feet.
Tatum freezes in the doorway, her keys dangling from her fingers. “Brandon?” Her voice is soft, her eyes wide with surprise. “What are you doing here?”
Like I’d be anywhere else.
Ignoring her question, I scan her face, her body, looking for any sign of distress. “Are you okay?” The question comes out rougher than intended.
“I’m fine.” She closes the door behind her, dropping her purse on her bed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I take a step toward her, unable to stop myself. “What did he want? Ethan?”
Tatum’s eyes flick to mine, then away, and Each second she doesn’t answer feels like an eternity, like I’m standing on the edge of a cliff waiting to fall.
“To get back together.” She says it so casually, like she’s commenting on the weather and not tearing my world apart.
“What did you say?” I ask, pushing past the lump in my throat. My voice sounds hollow, foreign even to my own ears, and I clench my jaw, bracing for the words I know will shatter me.
My hands ball into fists at my sides, fingernails digging into my palms when she laughs, the sound surprising me. “What do you think I said? I told him there wasn’t a chance in hell.”
Relief floods through me, so intense my knees nearly buckle. I drop onto the edge of her bed, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“You did?” I search her face for any hint of a lie but find only amusement dancing in her eyes.
“Of course I did. God, Brandon. Give mesomecredit.”
A smile tugs at my lips before I remember what she said after the game, and it fades. “Did you really mean what you said, all that talk about seeing other people?”
