Page 29 of Friend Zone to End Zone

“That’s what I told her.” I relaxed against my seat again.

We drove in silence as we listened to the soft music from the radio as blue spruce trees passed us by. My mind drifted back to yesterday with Chad and everything I’d been thinking about since he’d humiliated me in front of my followers.

He had to know what he’d done, right?

He was a smart guy.

“What are you thinking about?” Cole asked gently.

I sighed. “I was just trying to figure out what I’m going to do about Chad.”

Cole swallowed before giving me a tentative look. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked when I was quiet for a beat.

“How many pennies do you have?” I asked, because these thoughts were heavy.

“As many pennies as you want.”

I gave him a wry smile, appreciating his patient nature. How many times had we been in this scenario before?

How many times had Chad done something to make me question whether we were really compatible—or that he even valued me at all—and I’d turned to Cole and his strong shoulder to cry on?

Too many times to count.

And maybe it was time to stop counting and stop expecting a different outcome.

Wasn’t that the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

I closed my eyes and focused on my breath for a moment as I tried to decide whether I really wanted to say my thoughts aloud. Because if I said them to Cole, it would make everything all the more real. And I didn’t know if I was ready to accept the reality of everything just yet.

Didn’t know if I was ready to face the fact that I had wasted so many tears on a man who didn’t value me the way I thought he should.

I knew I wasn’t perfect. I had messed up a lot in my life. But I’d thought I was at least good enough for someone like Chad.

It’s not like I’d set the bar so high that I was aiming for someone like Cole.

I knew my place in this world and people like me didn’t end up with guys of the same caliber as my best friend.

“I won’t pretend like I can read your mind,” Cole said in a quiet voice when I didn’t say anything. “But I hope you know that any guy would be lucky to have you, Arianna.”

I must have been feeling a lot more vulnerable than I thought because after he said those words, tears sprang to my eyes.

“You know that, right?” he asked, sounding unsure. “You know that you deserve someone who will thank the gods every day for putting you in their life. You deserve so much more than you’ve put up with.”

And when he looked at me, my stomach felt hollowed out, because he looked so sincere—like he truly believed what he was saying was true.

Instead of telling him he was wrong and listing off all the reasons why, I simply nodded and wiped at the tears escaping the sides of my eyes.

Cole reached over, smoothing a comforting hand along my upper arm and shoulder. “You deserve the world, Arianna,” he whispered. “Someday I hope you’ll believe it.”

We didn’t talkfor the rest of the drive back to Denver as I soaked in what Cole had said.

I really wanted to believe that I deserved everything I wanted in the world. But when you’d had so many terrible things happen in the past because of your own stupid choices, it was kind of hard to believe that you’d ever get the things you really wanted out of life.

Hard to believe that you were worthy of having your dreams come true.

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