Page 8 of Scoring with my Bestie's Ex

I let out a shaky breath. “No. There’s nothing to work out, Steven. I’m sorry for running out on the wedding, but it’s over. We are not together anymore.”

He frowns deeply at me. “Look, maybe I put too much pressure on you for the wedding. But I want to work this out.”

I shake my head.

“We don’t need your help, thank you,” Ellen says.

Steven ignores both of us. “I know we can move past it. So why don’t you and Ellen just stay with me in the cabin and we’ll talk about it, okay? Even if I’d rather have privacy.”.

He glares at Ellen, and I can practically see the thought bubble above his head—complete with a childish tongue sticking out, like he’s about to unleash his inner playground bully.

I can already hear the arguments he’ll make, blaming Ellen for what I did.

She never liked me.

She poisoned you against me.

Everything I’ve heard before. Things that he’s thrown at me after every argument.

I take a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “We’ll be fine. Please leave us alone.”

I pray that the hotel will have rooms for us. Right now, the idea of sleeping on the beach is a little bit terrifying.

“There you are,” a voice calls from behind us.

Aaron.

Relief floods over me. Aaron and Mike join us, both grinning as though nothing is wrong.

“Steven,” Aaron says, eyeing him. “We were just taking Ellen and Bella to dinner.”

“Aaron. Well, I was just—”

“We have a reservation,” Aaron interrupts. “We’ll see you around.”

My heart hammers in my chest as we walk along the sidewalk. Aaron opens the door to the first restaurant we come to; soon, we’re settled in a corner booth with drinks in hand.

“Thank you,” Ellen says to Aaron. “It was getting really uncomfortable.”

“Don’t worry about paying, we’ll cover it,” Mike said. “And we heard enough of the conversation to know that you don’t have a place to say tonight anymore?”

I clear my throat. “We’ll check out the hotels. See if there happens to be a vacancy.”

Aaron leans on the table. “If you want to, you can stay in our cabin. We have the space for you to each have a room of your own or share if you’d be more comfortable that way. The landslide means the team isn’t coming, after all.”

Ellen nods even as I open my mouth to say we’ll figure something else out.

“That would be wonderful, thank you.” She smiles at Mike.

Right.

I reach for her hand. “Can I talk to you in private for a moment?”

Ellen lifts an eyebrow at me. We excuse ourselves and put some distance between us and the men.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask in a low voice. “I mean, he’s your ex. Are you really going to be okay with that?”

“Did you see the line at the camping register when we left? It was longer than my last relationship!” Ellen replies, rolling her eyes. “There’s going to be lots of people sleeping on the beach tonight, I can guarantee you.”

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