Page 40 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

“Let’s do ‘Truth and Anger’.”

Cerys shook her head. “No. You only behave like this when something hurts.”

Jase rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake.”

“I’m serious. Remember yesterday when we talked about—”

“Saywavesand I’m gone.”

Cerys sighed and raised her hands in surrender. Two steps forward, one step back.

“Fine, it feels like a song about unrequited love.”

Jase huffed, and she stood to walk over to him. He held on to the microphone stand as if it were armour. His shoulders were up near his ears and his lips pursed with annoyance. But his eyes finally met hers. “If that means loving someone you aren’t supposed to be in love with and they don’t know, then it is.”

“Did Matt write it?”

Jase nodded, but there was anguish in his eyes.

“Is that why you don’t like singing it?”

“It’s about Izabel, his ...”

“His?”

“His girlfriend. And the girl I thought I loved. Whatever.”

Cerys’s heart skipped in her chest.

And the girl I thought I loved.

Loved.

“Past tense?”

Jase wandered over to the wall and slid down to the floor. “It’s a long and painful story, Cerys. But you seem to be a masochist for hearing waves crash through me, so here goes.”

She sat down next to him and hooked her arms around her knees.

“Matt and Luke have been best mates forever. Since being little kids. The kind of friendship forged in fire. Luke’s dad dying, always being skint, having each other’s back in a fight. Probably fucking blood brothers given all the dumb shit they did. And Izabel is Luke’s younger sister.”

“Oh, the frat boy keep-your-hands-off-my-sister thing?”

“Yeah, except I didn’t.”

Cerys turned to face him, a flash of panic racing through her. She’d never have let him sleep next to her on the sofa if she’d known he was dating someone. “She’syourgirlfriend?”

Jase shook his head. “No. She isn’t. She’s Matt’s. I thought I was in love with Izabel, once. Fuck. This all sounds so bloody stupid and pathetic when I say it out loud. I thought I was making love to her, but she’s loved my brother for a decade. They finally got together last summer, but I’ve been a dick about it.”

“Did you sleep with her since they got together or before? During?”

“Jesus Christ, Cerys. I’m a douchebag, but not that much of a douchebag. Before. Before they got together. Like, two years ago. Thought I was over it, then the two of them got together. It irritates me singing that song because he wrote it before they got together. And now when I sing it, it feels like it’s about me. I feel like he’s laughing at me when I sing it.”

A quiet jealousy crept through her. Even though it was a while since they’d been together, it felt as though there were still raw emotions there. “Do you still have feelings for Izabel?”

“I thought I did.”

“You thought?”

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