Page 110 of Play to Win

“Wait!Théo, wait, seriously, this isn’t anything.”

“Get back here and talk to us,” JP calls.“Bro, you’re being a dumbass.”

Théo stops, then turns his head and says over his shoulder, “Yeah, I sure as hell am.”

Then he grabs his suitcase and slams out the door.

After a shocked beat, I run after Théo, my feet bare, out onto the sidewalk.The sand there is cool beneath my soles and I skid in it, nearly falling.I parked Théo’s car on the street when I got home, and he’s already there, tossing his case into the trunk and yanking open his door.“Théo!Stop!”

He shakes his head.“Got a flight to catch.”

I watch him drive away, my mouth open, my eyes wide.What the hell?

I turn back to JP, who followed me to the door.

“Well, shit,” he says.“Does he seriously think we were screwing around on him?”

“He can’t possibly think that.If he does, he’s an idiot.”I well know he’s not an idiot, but sometimes very smart people can be kind of clueless.I roll my eyes.“I’ll call him and explain things.”

“Okay.Shit.”He presses his thumb and fingertips to his forehead.“What the hell is he doing showing up?”

“Uh, he lives here.”Never mind I had the same reaction.“You can understand why he’d be freaked out.”

“Yeah, but this is different.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him.I’ll tell him that you’re ready to ...apologize to him.”I study him.“You are, right?”

“Yeah,” he mutters.

I nod.“Okay.”

He nods glumly.“Sorry to cause problems.I just came here to ...I don’t know.I wanted to confirm I’m right about Emma and I was right to tell her I never want to see her again.”

“You told her that?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, good.”I blow out a breath.“Okay, when Théo gets back from Vancouver, we’ll all get together and sort things out.It’ll be fine.”

JP leaves and I sink down onto the couch.My heart hurts that Théo could actually think I would do something like that—cheat on him.Cheat on him with his own brother.I hate that he’s hurting.But I’ll explain things, and it’ll be fine.

I go grab my phone out of my purse and call him, but it goes to voicemail.I leave a message.“Hey, it’s me.Youarebeing a dumbass.Call me back; we need to talk.”

By the time I have to leave for work, he still hasn’t called.Okay, he’s probably on a plane and can’t.I send him a text that he’ll get when he lands.

JP came to talk to me about Emma.He knows she’s a bitch who lied to you both and they broke up and he’s ready to apologize to u.U 2 need to talk.

I hit send.

Then I type more.

And if u think I was cheating on u with ur brother, u really are a dumbass.

Send.

I still haven’t gotten a reply by the time I’m done working at nine.

NowI’mgetting pissed.

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