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I really don’t want to admit that it’s making me jealous as fuck because it shouldn’t be. I shouldn’t care. They’re both adults, and they can fuck whoever they want to fuck. Even each other. That shouldn’t matter.

Brynn used me and betrayed me. Betrayed my family. Our families have been enemies for years, and I never should have tried to buck that. I thought maybe we would be different, that we could start something new, but I was dead wrong. She’s just like the rest of them, and I never should have trusted her.

“Are we still going to get to Hope Falls in time for the festival?” Tate asks, moving the subject along. He walks over to the window and draws back the curtain enough for us all to see that it’s dark out and it’s starting to snow. “I have no idea how long we’ll be stuck here at this rate.”

“We have a few days until the festival starts,” I tell him. “My mom is going to fucking flip if we’re late.”

“Can’t have that,” Tate says. “We’re guests, so we don’t want to piss her off.”

I shrug. “We’re going to have to figure out a different way to get there then. If no flights are going out from here because of the snow.”

“We’ll call that a tomorrow problem then,” Tate says. “No point in getting worked up about it tonight when everything’s closed anyway. Maybe we’ll get lucky and this snowstorm will pass us by.”

Callan snorts and gets up from the chair he’s been sitting in. “Let’s try not to bank on that,” he says. “Speaking of shit closing, if we want food, we should go get something. Places probably want to close up early before the snow gets worse.”

Tate nods his agreement, crossing the room to grab his coat. “Good idea. Let’s go see what there is to see.” He pauses and then goes to the bathroom to knock on the door.

“What?” Brynn calls back, sounding annoyed.

Tate’s unbothered. “We’re going to get some dinner. Any preferences?”

“A burger and fries from wherever is fine,” Brynn replies.

“Will do.” He taps the door twice in confirmation and then leaves with Callan, the door closing with a click behind them.

I thought having the two of them gone would help, since they wouldn’t be staring at me, trying to figure out if I’m lying about being fine or if I’m on the verge of exploding or something. But instead, it just makes me antsy because now I’m alone in the room with Brynn. She’s still in the shower, but even the fall of water doesn’t drown out the sound of her ambient humming as she washes the day off her.

It feels… weird. Too intimate. Too close to the way things were before, which is wrong because it can’t ever be like that again. I should have gone with Tate and Callan, and left Brynn here alone to deal with her attitude.

It’s impossible to sit still, so I get up, crossing to the other side of the room to push back the curtain and watch the snow fall. It’s coming down thicker now, still not the blizzard that’s been promised, but definitely ramping up to it. Footprints in the snow are already getting filled in on the sidewalk, and the street is basically deserted.

That doesn’t settle me either.

My phone buzzes on the bed, and I snatch it up, but it’s just a spam email coming in, so I toss the phone back down in frustration.

I hate this. I hate the restlessness under my skin that won’t let me calm down. I hate how fucking aware I am of Brynn in the bathroom and the way my mind won’t stop racing.

Eventually, I just end up pacing back and forth in the room because every time I try to sit down, I just feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin.

The water shuts off after a few minutes, and the sound of Brynn’s humming goes with it. I try to block everything on that side of the room out of my mind, so of course that’s when the bathroom door opens, as I’m turning, and I nearly walk right into a slightly damp and very naked Brynn.

She yelps, her eyes going round and wide with shock. “What the fuck!?” she demands. Her hands scramble to cover herself, but it’s not like she can hide all that smooth skin and her curves with just her hands. “I thought you were all gone!”

“Nope, just Tate and Callan,” I tell her, looking away. “You should put some clothes on.”

“That’s what I was trying to do! Why the fuck were you lurking outside the door like a creep?”

“I wasn’t! I was walking by when you opened it. I wasn’t trying to see anything. I didn’t see anything.” We probably both know that’s not true, but I don’t even want to think about anything I saw. “Just go get dressed, and stop screeching.”

“Fuck you,” Brynn mutters, but she steps around me and snatches up some clean clothes from her suitcase before going back into the bathroom with a slam of the door.

As soon as she’s gone, I swallow hard. I’ve seen Brynn naked before, but that’s the problem. My body remembers how soft she is, how beautiful, and it’s making it known how much I enjoyed it back then. My heart races a little, and I take a few deep breaths, trying to get myself to chill the fuck out.

Of course it doesn’t work. I’m just too keyed up. It’s all too fucking much to have to deal with, and at this point, the night can’t be over with fast enough.

Brynn doesn’t come back out of the bathroom until Callan and Tate come back with the food.

Tate comes in, carrying two brown paper bags, shaking snow out of his hair. “We return triumphant,” he says. “It was a close thing too. There’s a diner down the street, and they were about ten minutes from closing when we walked in. Luckily, they were happy to load us up. This must be one of those small towns where people are good to each other.”