Page 85 of Wildly Inappropriate

“Have you reached out to him?”

“I let him down, Jameo. JT doesn’t want to talk to me. He could barely get out of our room fast enough.”

“God, you’re both such idiots,” Jameo says.

“What do you mean?”

“He cares about you. You know he did. His parents dropped this huge bomb on him and he played poorly—”

“He blamed that on me.”

“Like I said, he’s an idiot. An idiot who made an irrational decision because he’s got the world’s largest guilt complex when it comes to his parents…and a blind spot about them equally as large. But then you don’t even reach out? Not even one single text to see how things turned out with his parents, or to make sure he got his stuff, or to confirm he’s not wasting away into nothing?”

“He ended things with me!” I’m all but yelling now. It’s not fair for Jameson to say I’m not handling this the right way. JT did this. “He was the one who wasn’t even willing to try. I made a mistake, I wasn’t perfect, and he walked out the door. Plus, I don’t even really think it was my fault. I mean, come on, his parents dropped a huge bomb on him the night before and yet my tiny little bottle rocket is somehow blamed for the massive explosion?”

Bryn comes over and hugs me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders as I realize I’m crying. Again. Damn it.

I lean into Bryn, accepting her comfort even as I hate myself for how weak I am. I never wanted to be the type of girl who cried over a dumb boy. One of my friends in high school had a pair of socks that said, “Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them” andthatis the energy I should be bringing to this breakup. Instead, I’m bringing real supporting-character vibes. If I were in a historical romance, they would’ve had to revive me with smelling salts at least three times by now, and the main characterneverfaints.

“I’m sorry, Lila,” Jameo says.

I shrug out of Bryn’s hug, claiming her phone so I can talk directly to my brother.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I got myself into this mess.”

“Yeah, after I tricked you into living with the guy.”

I tap my cheek as if I’m considering it. “Hmm, you know? Now that you mention it, this does seem like it’s entirely your fault. Heaven knows I would’ve fallen in love with any guy I ended up sharing a house with for a couple of weeks.”

“You’re hilarious.”

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t feel bad about it. Even though it sucks so much right now, I wouldn’t change a thing about us getting together. I would change us breaking up, but that’s beside the point.”

“So, you do still love him?” Jameo asks, coming back to his original question. Bryn rolls her eyes as if to say “How dumb can this man possibly be?” but chooses not to say anything.

“Yeah. Of course I do. You don’t fall out of love with someone in three weeks. I’m not sure I’ll ever stop loving him. JT is…well, he’s JT. But hopefully I can move on from him.”

“So when I force him to talk to me, should I try to get him to talk to you?”

“No.”

“No?”

“I don’t want him to talk to me because my brother forced him to. I want him to talk to me because his heart is telling him he can’t go another day without me. Because he realizes losing me is the worst possible outcome—worse than losing one golf tournament. I want him to realize our relationship doesn’t make him lose focus—it brings what’s importantintofocus.” I take a deep breath, feeling more conviction with every word I say. “If he doesn’t feel that way, then…I don’t want him at all.”

Jameo looks at me for a long moment, his brows furrowing. “And what if he’s just…scared of letting down his parents? You know how JT is. He feels like he has to pay them back, even to the detriment of his happiness.”

I shrug, trying to be nonchalant. “If his guilt about the decisions hisadultparents made when he was a kid is stronger than what he feels for me, then maybe it was never enough to begin with.”

The pain at the thought burrows deep inside my chest, threatening to pull another round of tears from me. “And I’ll just have to find some way to move on.”

Chapter forty

Lila

“Where is the finalproposal for—” Kelsey stops herself before saying the name of our client in front of Izzy and Becca.

“I’m almost done with it,” I say, though I still haven’t figured out what I’m supposed to include in two of the images for the client.

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