Page 2 of Obsessed with the Heartbreaker

Even more astonishing than the fact that he’d been interrogating someone about me, was the fact that, before they parted, he’d bribed the guy. He freakingbribedhim in exchange for the promise that he wouldn’t say a peep to anyone about it.

It was insane. Itsoundedinsane.

And yet I’d seen it.

To say I was dumbfounded was an understatement. Shock and confusion created a cocktail inside me that couldn’t hide the stupid hope blooming in my chest. The quiet thought that maybe, just maybe, not all was lost and he still thought of me. That he still cared.

It only grew as it kept happening. The prickling feeling, the side of my face warming under his dark brown gaze. I’d come to even look forward to catching even the smallest whiff of his scent, of fruity shampoo, and I became almost as obsessed with him as he was with me.

Several times I’d been tempted to catch him in the act, but I hadn’t. I was not only boring, I was also a coward, and more than that, I knew it shouldn’t change anything. He was him, and I was me. We belonged in opposite sides of the room.

Then the day of the boxing match came, and the game changed.

It was a charity competition. Several guys from our college’s boxing club would be participating. There would be no real winners or losers today, but the excitement in the crowd was palpable. We were here to see amateurs go at each other, and I wasn’t really a fan of the sport, but my best friend’s soon-to-be-boyfriend was participating, so none of us could miss it.

Scott, with his blond hair and perfect looks, was known as the college Prince. My best friend had always been the perfect ‘good boy’ sort, not to mention extremely popular and well-liked, so the fact that he was now seeing the guy known as thebad boy, was nothing short of shocking.

Theirs was a long story, one for another time, but what mattered was that me and Eliot, the third in our friendship triad, were here to support Scott as he watched his special someone fight and most likely win.

While Scott squirmed beside me, eager to see his pseudo-boyfriend, Eliot was letting out a long string of sassy commentary about how hot it was to see guys hit on each other.

He was telling all of this to none other thanhisboyfriend, which made me suddenly realize I was the group’s official third-wheel—or double third-wheel.

Whatever.

But I didn’t mind. Really. Why would I care? I had best friends I loved and who loved me. They weren’t going to dump me anytime soon just because they were in relationships. And, as I said, I didn’t do dating. Not while I was in college, and probably not for a long while after. My career would take precedence and I was fine with it.

It wasfine.

Even if, sometimes, Henry’s face appeared in my mind when I thought about things like this. Even if it made me wonder what it would be like to have him here with me. Even if it made my stomach knot and my throat close with grief.

It was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I’d get over it eventually, and—

My inner pep talk was interrupted by my ringing phone.

And I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

‘Henry’flashed on the screen, bright and insistent like the weight of his eyes on me.

He was calling me.

Henry was callingme.

I dazedly stared at my phone, not knowing if this was real or if I was imagining it.

Because the thing was, I wasn’t supposed to know he was calling me. I shouldn’thavehis phone number. As neighbors, we’d never needed it, and after we stopped being friends, we’d needed it even less.

So what was it that brought me to ask Scott’s boxer boyfriend for Henry’s number just a few weeks ago?

Momentary madness, that was for sure.

None of that mattered, though, because the fact was that my phone wasringing, and it had probably been too long already, and what if hehung up—

I picked up the call.

“Did no one ever tell you not to pick up the phone from strange numbers?”

The honeyed rasp of his voice had an immediate effect on me, making my skin tingle with awareness. The world suddenly became small and it was only me and my phone that existed.

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