Page 99 of Come Break My Heart Again

“I can’t, unfortunately,” he replies. “I’m going home to visit my parents.”

Immediate guilt. He never mentioned the trip again, so I assumed he decided against it.

“Oh. That’s nice,” Keira comments.

“Come on, Parker,” Tuck says, tugging on her hand. “We gotta get home.”

“Past your bedtime?” she teases.

“Yes,” he replies. “Crew’s showing up at six tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay.”

We all exchange goodbyes, and then Prescott hands his ticket to the valet. Neither Prescott nor I say anything until we’re in the car, driving toward my neighborhood.

“Your birthday is in two weeks?”

“Um …” I run my tongue along the backs of my teeth. Out of everything that happened tonight, that’s not what I was expecting him to bring up. “Yeah. July 5.”

A pause.

“Do you know when my birthday is?”

“Also July 5?” I joke.

“Nope.”

“Sorry,” I mutter. I’m not just apologizing for not knowing his birthday.

“Don’t apologize. Makes me feel better about not knowing yours.”

“Well, we’re both past twenty-one,” I say. “Birthdays don’t matter as much. All downhill once drinking is legal.”

My attempt to lighten the mood falls flat.

Prescott brakes at a red light, then looks over at me, his expression very serious. “When is Ryder’s birthday?”

I flinch, and there’s no way Prescott misses it.

“Answer isn’tI don’t know, right?”

“It was high school,” I tell him. “Another life.”

“Were you dating when he went to prison?” Prescott asks.

I swallow. “Yes.”

“That must have been hard.”

“It was hard to … watch it happen. He’s a good person. People make mistakes.”

Prescott snorts. “Amistake? He served seven years. That’s a hell of a lot more than a parking ticket.”

I sigh. “Can we not talk about Ryder?”

The light changes to green, and Prescott turns left. “Yeah. Sure. Whatdoyou want to talk to me about, Elle? Because lately, it’s not anything except the fucking bar exam. It’s not visiting my parents. It’s not your ex. You sure don’t want to have sex with me. So, it’s getting real hard not to read into all that.”

“Pres …”

---