Page 154 of Finding Hope

“Mmhmm.”

“So?”

“So, what?”

“What’s got you sad?”

I shrug. “Girl’s business, I guess.”

He rolls his eyes. “Stubborn ass.”

Relentlessly, he picks at the beer label.

He’s sad, too. But he’ll talk about his about as willingly as I’ll talk about mine. So instead, we sit together in silence and pretend no one is sad.

My phone vibrates time and time again, but I don’t check it. I’ve lost count of the missed calls and texts.

So many.

Too many.

I was so mad, so sad, so heartbroken this morning. But now, I just feelbad for ditching Jack the way I did. I created a giant deal about something I can never explain.

Icouldexplain it, but the fear of humiliation and rejection clamps my lips closed. I’ll never tell him.

“Are you and my brothers okay?”

Luc nods lazily. “Yeah. It was a little tense, but we’re okay now.”

“I’m sorry for what I did. I was so mad at Alex, I used you to piss him off. But everything that happened between us, you and me…” I shake my head. “It was dumb. It was my fault. Well, mine and Hennessy.”

He laughs. “It’s whatever, Brat. I’m a big boy. You didn’t rape me.”

“I kinda did.”

He snorts at old memories.

“I didn’t mean to drop you in the shit. I wanted to hurt X.”

“Well, it worked,” he laughs. “It’s okay, babe. I have bigger problems than the guys right now, and I’ll always forgive you. Friends for life, right?”

I nod. “Right.”

“So, you and Jack Reilly…”

Biting my bottom lip, I nod and try not to sigh at what I might’ve messed up. “Yeah. Me and Jack.”

“He’s a fuckboy.”

I laugh at the irony. “I think maybe you guys don’t know him as well as you think you do.”

He was a man whore after Steph died, but he was with her for seven years before that. He doesn’t have a problem with fidelity – when it’s with the right girl.

The problem simply lies in the fact that the right girl died. Now that she’s gone, all bets are off.

“You trust him?”

“Do I trust him not to cheat? Yeah, he’s loyal to a fault.” So fucking loyal, he’s still in love with Steph. He always will be.

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