Page 9 of Obsessed with the Heartbreaker

“Iknow, I know, Antony, but you used to be good friends. You’re the best influence I could think of, and he used to listen to you.”

I didn’t respond.

I wasn’t sure whether the hurt I felt was dread at the prospect of having to do this, or the reminder thatHenry used to listen to me. And now he didn’t anymore.

Connell was reading my expression, which, much to my demise, had always been way too easy for most people to decipher. My face betrayed my emotions most of the time, yet another weakness in this world.

“Look, I don’t want you to feel obligated to do this, I know it’s a big ask. But Marina and I…We’re desperate when it comes to Henry. He needs to listen to someone, even if he won’t listen to us. He’s been evenmoreunpredictable this summer, and we don’t know what else to do. But will you do it? Will you make him see he needs to do the right thing?”

The hope in his expression was almost a palpable thing.

In their eyes, Henry didn’t have a dream, so he needed to just get himself together and follow the family business. The Heartbreaker had had enough time to play, and it was time for him to face the music.

And here was my problem: my inner sense of guilt.

Because Iowedthese people to try. These people who had given me so much, who had always treated me well, like their own.

But I also knew something else: Henry Campbell valued nothing more than loyalty. His freedom was a close second. Betrayal was a sin in his own self-made book, andthis?

This would be the ultimate betrayal.

I owed him nothing. Henry and I weren’t even friends anymore, we were barely acquaintances. He had been obsessed with me for a while there, but even that I was beginning to doubt.

It still filled me with unease.

Because there would be no going back after this. I would be as good as dead to him if—whenhe found out.

I had a choice. I had to pick a side.

The Campbells’, who were my friends, and my benefactors?

Or Henry’s. The guy who had made me feel things I’d never felt before, and the one who had discarded me like a dirty washcloth.

There was only really one option.

So, after a deep breath, I pushed all of my feelings down, deep enough so I wouldn’t be able to remember they were there in the first place, and said, “I think I have an idea.”

I was going to go back into Henry’s life.

And then it would be over. Forever.

Chapter 3

Henry

People these days called me all sorts of things. Heartbreaker, King, the most charming asshole to ever live. Not all of them were inaccurate, but the second one? I could tell you wasn’t true.

If I was an actual King, I wouldn’t have to deal with anyone’s bullshit, mine included. If anyone tried to get in my way, or if they made me overthink things I didn’t want to think about, then I would be able to just get rid of them. I would be the greatest tyrant to ever live, making my life as easy as possible, and that would for sure include a pair of guards outside my door. Ones that would stop my judgmental, annoying best friend from barging into my bedroom unannounced at bird-o’clock in the morning.

“Are you going to get up or what?” Maddox asked from the door.

Since I was laying down on my bed, I had to open up one eye to peek from between my fingers at him. He was leaning against the doorframe, watching me, arms crossed, with his usual stern expression, his inky black hair pushed back.

I let my one eye tell him I wasnotamused at his interruption.

“I already got up. I just laid back down.”

And I wasn’t going to move, not any time soon. I didn’t have class for at least another two hours, and my brain already felt ready to melt.

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