This day sucked balls.
Jase gave him a decent side-eye but kept his trap shut as he led them to the ballroom. Velma clicked behind them on her heels.
“Hey, man, the cable’s jacked. I think we need a new one,” Dean said when they got to the ballroom. “I can try one other thing, but Velma’s laptop timed out. I need her password.”
Velma slipped around to the front of the computer and typed in her password. The glow of the projector filled the room.
Brek’s gaze shifted to Velma. She’d gone stiff. Her cheeks abnormally pale. Frantic, she started typing keys, but her fingers kept slipping.
He glanced up to the screen and…motherfucking cocksucker…Velma’s spreadsheet in all its projected glory lit up the giant screen behind the dance floor. The thing was so long that all of it didn’t fit on the screen, but she’d highlighted three rows. Dean’s. Wayne’s. And his.
“No,” Velma said, her breath shallow. She turned her now-pleading eyes to him. The room seemed to spin as Brek read his name on the last line. Beside it was the number four. The time stamp said she had entered Brek’s name that day.
Numbness took over. Everything sounded like it was in a vacuum. Brek stretched his hands, but he couldn’t feel them. Not with the world around him crashing.
The four stung, no doubt. But what burned? Wayne’s name above his with a bullshit nine in the next column. And Dean with his ten above that.
Fuck.
“Is that your dating spreadsheet Claire was talking about?” Dean asked, focused on the screen. “Why am I on it…?” His words trailed off at the end.
Sour betrayal pooled in Brek’s gut as he carefully unclenched his hands. “Same question. Why am I on it?”
She said she’d given up the spreadsheet. So, this is what it felt like to have your heart broken. No wonder he’d never taken the plunge before.
“Brek…” Velma started toward him, but he raised a hand in defense of his heart.
“Not the time,” he said quietly. Damn if his voice didn’t crack.
Velma’s chest heaved with big breaths. She pushed past him and yanked the cords from the back of her computer. The room dimmed with the loss of the light from the projector.
He couldn’t deal with this at the moment. Focus on the gig at hand—this was his job.
* * *
Oh God.The way Brek’s face had twisted with pain when he saw the score her algorithm had given him.
Velma glanced away from him and swallowed past the regret of her idiocy. She should never have added him to her spreadsheet. Of course she had figured that out right after she’d done it. But he didn’t know that. Judging by the way the muscle in his jaw twitched and the light in his eyes burnt out, she had crushed him.
“Velma, seriously, why am I on the list?” Dean’s expression was blank.
The room spun, and it seemed someone had pressed the pause button on her lungs.
“I…um…” She should just tell him. Get it out there. “I used to have a little thing for you before you started dating my sister. Totally benign. I’m over it, and I’m so happy for you and Claire.”
I love Brek now.
All she had to do was tell him.
“Is that why you did that thing you used to do in the office?” He frowned. “The one where you wouldn’t look me in the eye? I thought you didn’t like me. Huh. It makes sense now.”
Brek hadn’t moved since the spreadsheet was on the screen. Hadn’t hardly breathed.
She sucked in as much air as she could. “Can we go outside?” She reached for Brek’s arm.
“I’ve got work to do.” He didn’t even look at her. “We need to get a new audio cable. I’ll send Amy to grab one. Leave your password so she can get it working.”
Okay. That’s fine. She lowered her hand. He wasn’t ready to let her apologize. He had work to do. She understood that. But he still loved her. She knew it in the depths of her damaged soul.
