Page 117 of Dear Grumpy Boss

“Don’t defend him.”

“I’m not. He was absolutely wrong, and he knows that. Miles was part of the reason those years were miserable for me, but since he and I hashed it out, I’m over it. I can’t drag high school shit around for the rest of my life. I’m satisfied he feels like a dick for how he behaved, so I don’t really need a pound of flesh from him. It’s over, and we’re sort of friends now.”

His hands flexed, and I could tell he wished he was wrapping them around his brother’s neck.

“You can’t be friends with him, not when I’m planning on killing him.”

“You’re not killing anyone.” I rubbed his scruffy cheek. “I think you need to have a conversation with him, though. Did you hear the rest of what he had to say? He felt abandoned. I kind of think he still does.”

“Fuck him,” he groused. “Heisabandoned, as far as I’m concerned.”

I pressed my lips together, frustrated. “Does it not matter to you that I’m over what he did?”

“No. You shouldn’t have had to get over anything.”

“I shouldn’t have, that’s true, but that’s not how it worked out. And Miles…I don’t know. He’s made it his mission to befriend me. Ilikehim. Maybe if you guys really talked, you’d grow to like him too.”

He glowered at me. “We’ll never be like you and Elliot.”

“No, probably not. But Elliot and I are trauma bonded.”

He let his head fall back on the couch cushions, heaving a sigh. “You’re really not going to let me kill him, are you?”

“No.”

“I want to.”

Laughing, I tucked myself under his arm and curled into his side. “I know you do. It means a lot.”

“I’d do anything for you, Elise.”

Maybe Weston telling me he’d kill his own brother for me shouldn’t have felt like a romantic declaration, but it had. When Weston Aldrich said he’d do anything for me, he meant it.

Something deep and achy came awake in my chest. It stretched and bloomed while we snuggled on Weston’s couch, the last minutes of my birthday slipping away. Though this day hadn’t gone quite as I’d expected or hoped, I’d begun and ended it in Weston’s arms, and that trumped everything else.

Chapter Twenty-eight

Weston

To:[email protected]

From:[email protected]

Dear Elise,

Unfortunately, I have to cancel our lunch plans today.

It seems going camping for two days without cell service means when I come back to reality, reality is waiting for me.

Luckily, I made sure to enjoy every minute of our camping trip.

The outdoors will never be the same.

Regretfully,

Weston

To:[email protected]

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