“She and Wyattjustbroke up, dude,” I say after gathering my thoughts. “Even if I was planning to do that, it’s a little soon for her to even be thinking about dating someone else, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, sure. I get that. And you definitely don’t wanna be the rebound. But in the meantime, you can be theavailablebest friend with the shoulder to cry on. The one who was there the entire time, but she was too doe-eyed for the baseball star to see it.”
He lays the entire plan out in front of me, only to shoot me one of thosehello, are you stupid?looks when I don’t immediately jump on the plan.
But I’m not stupid.
Despite what I’ve begun feeling for Camden, there have been thebriefestmoments where I’ve thought about what Lexi being single means. It’s like Bailey pointed out: I’ve been lovestruck by her since the day we met. Of course the possibilities of what could happen now have entered my mind.
Acting on those ideas, on the other hand, have not.
My silence must carry on for too long, because Bailey’s expression changes; it morphs from the impatient master planner into a suspicious best friend as he stares at me, eyes narrowed.
“What aren’t you saying?” he asks slowly.
Scraping my teeth over my bottom lip, I debate the best way to go about this. But there is nogoodway to drop this kind of bomb, so I just let it fly and hope I’m in the safe zone.
“Things with Cam aren’t exactly fake anymore.”
Bailey’s jaw might be dislocated with the way it practically falls off his face.
“I…you’re…what?”
I rub the back of my neck, grimacing. “I don’t know. Things kind of changed after New York when we started sleeping together, and—”
“You’re sleeping with him?”
“Jesus Christ, are you trying to wake your roommates?” I hiss, lowering my voice on instinct.
“I don’t fucking care if I wake Elvis from his goddamn grave! And I definitely want to repeat my earlier question of: Why am I just finding out about thisnow?” A maniacal laugh slips out, and he tosses his hand out in the direction of his phone. “Sure, the Lexi stuff I can kind of understand you keeping to yourself. It’s still a new occurrence, and it’s really not any of my business. Butthis?You’ve been fucking him for over twomonthsand you didn’t think to say something?”
I wince, hating how bad it sounds when he says it aloud. Andit does sound bad, I know that. But…
“It just sorta happened.”
Bailey scoffs, leans back against his headboard, and crosses his arms. I can tell from the shake of his head and how he’s looking off in the distance beyond the camera, he’s still processing. Like the information I’ve just plopped in his lap really was a live grenade and he’s been tasked with defusing it.
“So, what? Do you actually like him?” he asks, something between suspicion and disbelief in his tone.
My tongue toys with the inside of my cheek, and I nod. Because I do like Cam. So much more than I thought I could. Definitely way more than I planned to.
I might even…
I shake my head, shoving away the idea that’s insane to even think. Then again, I never thought this fake shot at avoiding my infatuation with Lexi would bring out real feelings for someone else. And never in a million years would I have expected it to be Camden Steele I would develop feelings for. Yet here I am, questioning if I accidentally fell in love with my fake boyfriend.
Bailey stares at me through the screen, likely reading my every thought all over my face, before he lets out a long breath that turns into a wry laugh.
“Oh my fucking God. You’re…” He trails off, laughing some more, despite this being anything but funny. “Well, looks like you’ve got yourself into a real pickle now, Loge.”
Understatement of a lifetime.
I rub my temple, muttering, “You’re telling me.”
We sit in silence for a minute, neither of us knowing what to do or say next. Maybe because just the weight of admitting feelings for Cam is far heavier than either of us were expecting.
It’s only when I notice Bailey lightly tapping his fingers on his thigh, expression pensive and deep in thought, that I find my voice again.
“Speak,” I say, the single word dragging his attention back to me.
