Page 17 of The Breaking Point

“Everything’s great.”

I realized a moment later that I hadn’t returned with the promised dessert. I was about to get up again, my cheeks heating, when Brady came back, holding the cake Mom had made yesterday.

“Did you forget something?” he said to me, shooting me a wink.

Will managed to find me after dinner for a private conversation. “We should head out soon if we want to catch the movie at seven thirty,” he said.

I’d completely forgotten he’d asked to go to a movie afterward. But the thought of sitting in a theater for two hours with Will just didn’t appeal to me right now.

“I’m sorry, but can I get a rain check?” I asked, feeling horribly guilty. “I have a headache.”

Will looked disappointed, but he didn’t push it. To make me feel even guiltier, though, he made sure to ask whether I needed to take anything or if he should go to the store for something. I told him I’d be fine—I probably just needed to drink more water.

Will had gone to the kitchen to get me a glass of ice water when Brady came over. “What was that about? He looked like he was about to start crying.”

“He did not,” was my brilliant rebuttal. When Brady just waited, an eyebrow cocked, I sighed. “I told him I had a headache and didn’t want to see a movie tonight with him.”

Brady chuckled. “Poor guy. But I can’t say that I blame you. Were you going to see a documentary? Like the history of computers or something?”

Will returned with my water. But I didn’t even take the glass he offered. Instead, I wrapped an arm around his waist and kissed him—hard.

Will grunted in surprise. I felt water splash onto my arm. When I pulled away, I could see that Will had spilled half of the glass onto the rug.

Brady, though, was the person I was really paying attention to. He just stared at me, his eyes narrowed, his nostrils flared.

I was breathing heavily. I told myself it was because of the kiss, but I knew that, deep down, it was because of Brady’s intense, jealous expression.

Some ten minutes later, I heard the front door open and close.

“Brady had to head out,” Mom explained. She gave me a look. I chose to ignore it.

I was sitting in the tree house when Brady texted me.

The sun had just set, and it was starting to get cold. But I didn’t want to go inside. I mostly wanted to avoid my parents’ questions—about Will and Brady.

I was a dick tonight. Sorry,Brady’s text read.

I snorted. I didn’t reply because he didn’t deserve forgiveness. I was still too mad at him right then.

Why did Brady care so much about who I was dating? He was the epitome of the dog in the manger: he didn’t want me, but nobody else could want me, either.

What if he did want you?

I already knew he didn’t. He’d rejected me when we were teenagers, and now that I was grown, he’d never shown any interest in dating me. It wasn’t like Brady Carmichael didn’t know how to ask a woman out. If he wanted me, he’d say as much.

I lay down on the wooden floor of the tree house, staring at the ceiling. I hadn’t spent much time up in this tree house when I’d been younger. My parents had moved to LA and into this house right before I’d left for college. The previous owners had built this tree house for their kids, and my parents hadn’t had the heart to take it down despite the annoyance of having to maintain it.

The tree house I knew best was the one at my parents’ house in Las Vegas. The same house where Brady had become my foster brother.Thattree house ... it held a whole lot of memories, both good and bad. I’d spent so much time up there when I was a kid, but it’d tapered off when I’d become a teenager. It had felt silly and babyish, hanging out in a tree house.

Now, I wished there were more tree houses for adults in general. Why did kids get to hide away? Adults needed something like that just as much as kids did.

I must’ve dozed off because I was awoken an hour later by my phone buzzing. It was Brady texting again.

At least tell me to fuck off. Don’t ignore me.

I laughed at his audacity. I took a picture of me flipping him off and sent it to him.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard someone climbing the ladder. Then, to my shock, Brady was inside the tree house, gazing down at me with an amused expression.

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