Page 100 of Unexpected Boyfriends

"That's weird. I haven't even been in Contacts recently. I wonder how that got changed. That explains why you didn't get my calls or texts, but it doesn't explain why you couldn't contact me," Justin speaks slowly, frowning. "And it doesn't explain why you think I sent you that text."

We're both puzzling over how any of this could happen, when suddenly I have an idea.

"While you were at your parents' house, was there ever a time when you didn't have your phone with you?"

Justin gets that distant look again. Then he nods, super-slowly.

"Y-e-ah. You know... that night... after dinner my dad made me leave my phone in the kitchen while he and I went out andworked in the garage together. It was still there when I came back but..."

"Do you think your mother could have done it? You have a lockscreen, right? How could she have gotten past that?"

Justin humphs. He purses his lips and screws up the side of his face in annoyance as realization hits.

"Yeah...Well... I think I know when it happened. We were in the kitchen earlier that afternoon, and there was a lot going on. They got me to show them something on my phone, and I remember thinking they were standing uncomfortably close. When I unlocked it, they could've seen the code."

We look at each other.

"Fuck!" exclaims Justin. He goes back to his phone.

"What's your actual number?" he asks.

As I tell it to him, he types it into the search bar of his contacts. When he types the final digit, a contact appears on the screen. The name is 'XX' so it was unlikely to show up in a normal search, and when we scroll down, sure enough, it's my actual number and the number is blocked.

So much misunderstanding between us. So many lost opportunities.

"Fuck," Justin says again, his voice barely a whisper. His shoulders sag.

Ultimately, Justin answers my original question, but he looks shattered.

“You asked why I came... I came to ask if we could try again.”

My heart breaks.

Despite everything, we’d had a chance. And I’ve screwed it up by fucking Jordy.

Chapter 43

Sydney

AXEL

“Fuck,” I bury my face in my hands, pulling my own hair in my anguish. “Do you still wanna try? Because I do, more than anything.”

He’s not going to though. I can’t expect it of him. I’ve betrayed him in the most hurtful way possible, though at the time I didn’t think there was even the remotest possibility that we would get back together.

So I don’t have the faintest idea why he lifts his chin, looks me firmly in the eye, and breathes “Okay.”

I’m stunned, but I’m not going to argue. If the universe is throwing me a line, I’m grabbing it with both hands.

I take bothhishands in mine, as a lone tear snakes down the side of my face.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah.”

“Give me a minute. To get dressed,” I add, embarrassed to remind him he’s found me half-naked with another man just leaving my house.

Justin purses his lips in a hard line, because heisremembering, and I hurry to my room to change and grab my things before he comes to his senses and leaves. I remember to pass via the bathroom on the way, to clean up.

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