“We can play doubles,” Avery chimed in, grabbing Leah’s hand and pulling her to stand.
Loralei eyed me for a moment before standing. “Sure.”
As the others started for the pool table, Callie lingered behind. I finally looked up, and she gestured her head in the direction Wes had walked off. I nodded in silent understanding; I needed to apologize, hence why she was keeping Loralei occupied.
When Callie finally turned and followed the others, I let out a breath. “Well, that’s one way to clear a room, sis,” Brody quipped beside me.
“Right,” Wyatt grumbled. “And what the hell do you mean you’ve been fucking?—”
“Shut up, Wyatt. Not now.”
I stood and walked toward the door, slipping outside. I looked around, not seeing Wes, but something tugged me to theleft, where a small alley was nestled between the bar and a neighboring building.
When I stopped in front of it, I spotted Wes slowly pacing back and forth. I let out a breath. “Wes…” He glanced up when he heard me, meeting my gaze as I approached him. “I’m sorry…if I went too far back there.” I sighed, wringing my fingers together. “That was a dick move on my part.”
“It’s fine,” he said as he waved me off what felt like a little too quickly. “I mean, you picked ahellof a time to tell everyone we’d been sleeping together for two years, but, hey, it was bound to come out eventually, right?” He scrubbed his hand down his face with a wry laugh. “I just…I wasn’t expecting it, even though I probably should have because that’s been our little game all this time, the sabotage, but…” He looked at me again, and I dropped his gaze; we’d done the sabotage before, but it never made me feel like this much of an asshole. “The game…we gotta end it.” I snapped my head up, feeling my chest tighten. “Things with Lora are brand new, but I’m just…I feel like I need to give it a genuine shot.”
I was thankful he couldn’t see the way my heart plummeted at his words.I was going to tell you. Not that telling him would have made much of a difference, I realized now. I slowly nodded. “O-Of course,” I said, hoping he couldn’t hear the tremble in my voice.
Wes stared at me. “I mean, maybe…maybe if we were on the same page, things could be different, but…”
What the hell did that even mean? “No. No, I get it,” I lied, looking away from him again.
I heard him sigh. “So…a truce?”
I glanced back up at him, hesitating for a moment before nodding. “Truce.”
We stood in awkward silence for a moment before he cleared his throat. “I should, uh…I should go find Lora.”
“Yeah, sure.” I nodded. He stared at me for another heartbeat before turning and walking away. “Hey, Wes…” He stopped at the alleyway entrance and quickly turned back to me. “I…I’m happy for you.”
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue, but I said it anyway because he deserved to be happy.
I swore I could have heard him scoff. “Thanks.”
When he disappeared around the corner, I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a breath, feeling a storm of different emotions swirling inside me. I was waiting to go back inside, trying to pull myself together before having to face the others, but I was all over the place.
“Mo?”
My head popped up, and I spotted Callie approaching me. “I’m sorry…” I shook my head. “For spitting that out like that.”
“I think we’re allmoreshocked that we didn’t even realize it was happening. Fortwo damn years.” Callie laughed. “You havea lotto tell me, but it’s fine.” She studied me for a moment, her brow creasing slightly. “But you’re not…”
“I’m great,” I lied.
“You’re full of shit,” she countered. It didn’t take her all but a few heartbeats to piece it together. “You really fell for him, didn’t you?” I shook my head with a wry laugh, not answering. “You fell in love with him…but now he has a girlfriend, so things have ended.”
“I’m fine.” I began to laugh, but my expression twisted as an ache flourished in my chest. “It’s fine. You can’t possibly end something that never even had a beginning, right?” I was failing to keep myself together, and my laugh began to mix with a softcry. “I didn’t even realize how I felt…not until I was away and missing him. And I was going to tell him how I felt tonight…but that was dumb of me to think…because we weren’t—we never—we were just—” My breath hitched. “I’m fine.”
I shook my head, dropping it into my hands with a quiet sob as Callie stepped forward, wrapping her arms around me.
Chapter 45
“Alright.Let’s address the giant elephant in the room.”
I rolled my eyes at Lucas, and my jaw ticked as I dropped the weights on the floor. “Please, can we not go there?”
Lucas chuckled, shaking his head. “Nope. We have to. Because this is just?—”
