Page 3 of The Hookup Mix-up

“Okay…” I drag out the word as if that will change anything.

“I don’t think this is working.”

“This, as in…” Again, I let the words hang as if I don’t know exactly what she’s talking about.

“Us. Me and you. I’ve known for a while, but…”

“But you couldn’t tell me before I blew almost two hundred dollars on dinner, flowers, and shit.”

“Theo!”

“What? It’s true.” I shrug. I’m not trying to be a dick, but she could have let me in on that fact before I spent the day trying to be the perfect boyfriend—and nailing it, I might add. Well, except for the almost falling asleep while she spoke.

“This is exactly the reason why. You don’t really care about me. You were falling asleep on me.”

“Maybe because all the conversations are about you?” I venture. Had she asked me one single question? Did she ever? I didn’t mind, not really, but can she really blame me for dozing off?

“Whatever. I should have known you wouldn’t get it. We’re too different. I thought we could make this work, but I can’t keep letting you hold me back.”

Hold her back? How in the fuck have I been doing that? “Um…what?”

“You don’t know who you are. Or what you want. You have no direction. Do you even want to be with me, or do you stay because it’s easy and you don’t want to upset anyone?”

Her words feel like a slap in the face, not because they’re wrong, but because they’re right. Whitney might have totally fucked up in her breakup delivery, but I can’t say she’s wrong.

I don’t want to be with her. I haven’t for a while. I hated tonight. I hate this stupid collared shirt, and I…have no idea what I want. I just go along with everything.

“I know who I am,” I lie.

“Who?” she asks, and I just stare at her, unsure how to answer. Holy fuck. This sucks. Why couldn’t she have kept pretending with me?

“Maybe I could have found a better way to do this, and maybe I should have told you before we went out tonight, but you know I’m right, Theo. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Without another word, Whit gets out of the car and walks away, while I sit in her driveway, trying to figure out what in the hell just happened.

CHAPTER TWO

Perry

“Are you Tyson Langley’s long-lost brother?” a girl I don’t recognize asks as she leans over the counter at Shenanigans, the bar where I work, which is close to the Franklin University campus. Her ample cleavage is on display. I can’t lie and pretend I don’t notice, but my gaze doesn’t linger. Not because I don’t like breasts, because I do. A lot. They’re actually one of my favorite things, but at the same time, I try to respect women. Being raised by a single mom who dealt with a lot of asshole men drove that lesson home for me at a very young age. It’s a wonder I’m attracted to men too, because I’ve seen a lot of dickheads, but I’m as equally down to bone men as I am women.

“Nice, huh?” she asks, before I can answer her other question, so maybe she wants me to look? I still don’t because I’m not sure, and also, I’m still a little annoyed at her first query. “You are, right? Tyson’s brother?”

If I got a dollar every time someone asked me that…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be struggling to make ends meet. Southern California is crazy expensive, and a college beach town like San Luco? Think expensive and then double it, and you’ll be close. “I am,” I reply, trying not to let my frustration show.

I moved here last February, and people are still questioning me about Ty. My half brother has made quite the name for himself with the FU population, and we all know how people love a juicy story. Discovering that tech giant Montgomery Langley has an illegitimate son he sent money to provide for but didn’t claim for the first twenty years of his life made quite a splash. Not that he claims me now—or I guess, he tries to, but I want nothing to do with him.

“He’s hot,” the girl says.

What the fuck. All this, and it has nothing to do with me? She just wants me to know she’s attracted to him?

“I’m hotter,” I reply because it’s true and that’s just how I roll. Ty and I are way too similar for brothers who didn’t grow up together. If someone had said the same thing to him, he would have answered exactly how I did. “Also, he has a boyfriend.”

“Ugh. He’s still with that grumpy guy who graduated in June?”

I can’t say she’s wrong about Brax, but the need to defend my future brother-in-law pulls at me. Brax is a good guy who treats Ty well. They’re crazy about each other. I might not have any relationship experience—because me and trust aren’t real tight—but I know two people who are meant to be when I see them, and that’s Ty and Brax. “If you’re waiting for them to break up, it’s never gonna happen. They might mix like oil and water, but somehow that shit works.”

The look in her green eyes changes to smoldering. “What about you?”

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