Page 150 of On the Breakaway

“It was fine. What were you guys talking about? Who’s dumping who?”

“Avery was telling me about this guy she’s seeing, but only because she was hoping I’d help her figure out how to dump him.”

His expression tightens, but he quickly smooths it back out.

“That’s not what I said.” I sit up, almost knocking my drink over in the process. “I didn’t say anything close to that.”

Liam laughs, completely oblivious to the damage he’s causing. “Yeah, but you refused to even say it was a relationship. Clearly, you’re on the fence.”

“Shut up.” I bite out at Liam.

“Hey,” Liam whines. “You hate Grayson, not me, remember?”

He says it lightly, but Grayson doesn’t smile. He doesn’t look mad either, just completely unaffected by it all. If I hadn’t grown used to the actual passion that lies underneath it, I might not even be able to tell that he’s hurt.

But I can see it.

I want his warm smile. I want the gleam in his eyes. I don’t want this.

I should say something, tell Liam that I was talking about Grayson. Make sure Grayson knows that I was in no way planning to end things.

As I am pushing out my chair to do just that, Grayson finally speaks.

“So, are you going to dump him?” He asks, eyes landing on mine, studying me.

“I never said I was going to.” I hold his gaze.

“Then what exactly did you say?”

“That I don’t know what I want,” I admit.

“That’s not entirely true.” He shrugs casually, which just makes the next words hurt more. “You know that you don’t want to be in a relationship with him. At least not officially.”

“Didn’t say that either.”

“You kind of did.” Liam chimes in, and I shoot daggers at him.

“See,” Grayson says, “Liam seems to think that’s exactly what you said.”

“It’s not that simple.” I can’t stop the frustration that bleeds into my words.

He lets out a condescending chuckle. “Yeah, it kind of is.”

That does it.

“Of course you’d think that.” I narrow my eyes. “You have the perfect family. A history of happy, healthy relationships. You’ve got it all figured out, Grayson. Good for you.”

Liam whistles, looking between us as if wondering if he should step in.

“Right. As opposed to you, who would rather avoid facing actual emotions.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this–” Liam starts, but I talk over him.

“And what’s so wrong with that? Why is that such a problem? Knowing what I want doesn’t make me selfish.”

His jaw twitches at his own words thrown back in his face. “You’re right. It doesn’t.” His voice drops. “But if that’s what you want to do, Liam’s right. Cut the poor guy loose.”

A chill races down my spine at the iciness in his tone. My gaze drops to the floor because, as irritating as this entire conversation has become, he’s absolutely right. We can’t stay in this weird in-between forever.