Page 60 of A Little Broken

“You think?” she snaps. “Start talking, Tate.”

Chewing on the edge of my thumb, I sigh and give in, my conscience getting the best of me. “Look, it’s not a big deal.”

“Mm-hmm,” she hums, looking less than convinced. Feeling her frustration, Hades lifts his head, looks at me, and lets out a low growl.

Ignoring him, I push forward, explaining, “After we hooked up, I may or may not have told him I was engaged so he wouldn’t ask Dodger for my number.”

“Tatum,” she scolds.

“I didn’t know how else to convince him to not pursue me.”

She laughs. “Someone’s cocky.”

“You don’t get it,” I argue. “You weren’t there.”

“What’s there to get?”

“We had a…connection,” I mutter. “And for better or worse, I knew if I didn’t draw a line in the sand, he’d cross it, okay? So I…I did what needed to be done. I drew a line in the sand.”

“A fake line.”

“Yeah, but it worked.”

“It also paints you as a cheater.”

“I’ve been painted worse,” I remind her, but it doesn’t take away the sting of the truth I’ve long since buried. That night? That night Ididfeel like a cheater. Because that night I connected with someone on an emotional level, not only a physical one. And that felt like more of a betrayal to Archer’s memory than any of my other encounters with the opposite sex, and it’s why I knew I needed to draw the line. Why I knew I needed to disappear. Even if it doesn’t make sense. Even if I sound like a crazy person. I needed the distance to alleviate my guilt for connecting with someone other than a guy who’s already in the ground. It’s why my little run-in with Pax felt more weighted than even my best friend can imagine, let alone understand.

“You should come clean,” Rory decides. “He seems like a really nice guy, Tate.”

“Well, yeah. He’s a charismatic sweetheart.”Until he finds out you lied to him.“And arockstar,” I emphasize in an attempt to focus on the facts instead of my own guilt. “Even if I was stupid enough to do a one-eighty on my relationship stance—which I’m not—you really think opening the door for a rockstar is a smart idea?” I scoff. “Yeah, no thank you.”

“Come on. It’s been years,” she pushes. “Maybe you should give him a real chance.”

Yeah, that ship has sailed. He already knows the truth, even if I didn’t full-on admit it tonight. Add in the fake number, and I might as well buy a shirt labeling me Paxton’s mortal enemy if his reaction to my first lie is anything to go by.

“Just because he’s a nice guy when he isn’t pissy about me lying to him doesn’t change anything,” I tell her. “Honestly, it’s kind of a tally in the wrong column, if you ask me.”

The moonlight filters through the window, painting Rory as she props her head on her hand, clearly invested in our conversation as she plays with Hades’ fur. “What? Nice guys are bad?”

“Nice guys are dangerous,” I clarify. “You should know.”

I don’t throw her childhood crush in her face often, and I’m not trying to right now, either. But if anyone knows what it’s like to fall for a nice guy only to wind up rejected by him, it’s Rory. And me. But I digress. Yeah, Jaxon Thorne is the epitome of nice guy. He’s sweet. Thoughtful. Dependable. He’s perfectly unattainable and Rory’s greatest regret. Once upon a time, they were best friends despite their massive age difference. She thought she could tell him anything. And it was true. She could. Everything but her feelings for the guy.

“I know,” Rory finally mutters. “It’s just…I don’t know. Not every situation has to be like me and Jax or you and Arch. Like I said, Pax couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

“It doesn’t mean anything, Squeaks,” I say, trying to soften the blow. “I know your untouched, ripe-for-the-picking heart wishes it did, but…it doesn’t. He’s just a guy.” The lie leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but I swallow it back.

“Maybe you’re right,” Rory concedes. “You probably are, but…I don’t know. Is it so wrong for me to want you to be happy?”

Caught between being offended and amused, I chuckle softly, arguing, “Hey, I’m happy.”

“You know what I mean.”

Propping my head in my hand the same way she is, I challenge, “Do I?”

“I’m just saying, we both know we’re fucked when it comes to the opposite sex and our views of relationships.”

“Fool us once, shame on us, fool us twice?”

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