Page 71 of My Brother's Best Friend

No more hiding the fact that I had been in love with her for years.

“I love you, Maddie Weber,” I murmured. “I’ve loved you for so long.”

She twisted in the shower so she faced me, the water still pounding around us. And then she smiled softly at me and moved her hands up my arms and around my shoulders, pulling me down for a kiss. “I love you too, Wolfe.”

CHAPTER44

MADDIE

After first period, I marched through the science wing toward Sandra’s locker. I had to go through it to get to Biology anyway, so I might as well stop by to see if Sandra had actually come to school today. I didn’t know what the hell I was going to say to her, but I wanted to start standing up for myself.

People walked all over me at Redwood. It was time for a change.

Abigchange.

Shy Maddie Weber needed to step out of her fucking shell at some point. I couldn’t let Oliver baby me forever, and I wanted to prove to him that I didn’t need his protection anymore. He didn’t need to be another parent.

Besides, I officially had Alec Wolfe as mine.

I pressed my hands to my chest and tried to stop the butterflies because I wanted to be serious with Sandra. But I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened in the shower this morning. Alec Wolfe had told me he loved me.

Me!

Once I made it halfway down the hallway, I spotted Sandra standing at her locker with a bunch of her friends, shoving in some textbooks. I approached them cautiously, nerves zipping through my body at the mere thought of talking to her becauseI hated her.

“Sandra?” I said, stopping feet away.

She glanced over her shoulder at me and scrunched her nose. “What?”

“Can I talk to you?”

Her friends giggled, one of them stepping forward.

“Youtalk toherafter you slept with her ex-boyfriend?” She scoffed, earning a laugh from all the other girls besides Sandra. “Gross. Get lost, you whore.”

Instead of paying them any attention, I stared at Sandra and hoped that she’d get them to go away. She might’ve been pissed at me for being with Alec, but she was over him, right? At least, if what Alec had said was the truth.

“Go,” Sandra said.

“See,” her friend continued. “Run off somewhere?—”

“I was talking to you,” Sandra said to her friend.

The girls around her snapped their heads in Sandra’s direction, then scurried away, as if Sandra would explode on them if they didn’t do as she said.

When they were gone, Sandra turned toward me. “Make it quick.”

“I wanted to ask about Alec.”

“What about him? How you stole him from me?”

“Alec said that … that you don’t like him like that,” I said, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. When I was sure, I leaned forward just in case and lowered my voice. “That you like girls too.”

It wasn’t really my place to tell her. She hadn’t come out to me yet, and I felt so bad … but I couldn’t help it. I needed to know the truth or else my jealousy would just get worse. And after seeing how widely Alec had smiled after I kissed him in front of everyone, I didn’t want to lose him. Besides, I still didn’t trust her yet.

And—as bad as it was—if I could hang this over her head to get her to stop bullying me, then I would. She had tortured me for years, and if I was going to stand up for myself and claim Alec as mine, then I had to push back.

Sandra’s face paled. “He didn’t tell you that. You’re lying.”

---