Page 15 of Only in Your Dreams

Mel rubs her lips together, seemingly stumped by his question. “I gained a few pounds a few years back,” she says slowly, picking through her words. “I got hooked on these salted caramel cupcakes from a bakery across the street. He said… he was concerned about my health.”

So, he put her on a bullshit meal plan under the guise of mutualhealthy living, and conveniently never took her off it?

That motherfuckingfucker.

I’m properly seething. Rage boiling the content of my stomach. Making me sick. But mostly, making me want to commit a crime.

My fingers twitch toward my pocket like they expect to find keys there. Like I was the one who drove here today, and I can climb into my car and race to the city just to deck that sleazy piece of—

“Mels, you’re tiny,” Summer says delicately.

Melody swallows so hard I can see her throat move from where I stand across the campsite. Her eyes dart around the space between us, like she’s seeing things that aren’t there. Putting puzzle pieces together. Arms wrapped around her middle, looking so small and fragile.

The silence is heavy. Brooks shoots me a look from where he’s standing next to her, and I’m aching to trade places with him. I want to wrap her in my arms, make her smile for real. Tell her everything will be okay, and then spend the rest of my life proving I was right.

Mel takes another tentative sip of her beer. “I think I need to stop talking about this now.”

Like me, Summer seems to have grown roots from her toes. Shocked into silence and into place by the horrifying direction this conversation has turned. I widen my eyes at Brooks, and it’s a mark of the depth of our decade-long friendship that he seems to know exactly what I’m asking of him.

He lays a hand on Melody’s shoulder and squeezes. “Then let’s stop talking about it. What do you feel like doing? Pound our entire supply of alcohol in one sitting? Go for a swim? The wind’s pretty bad, but we should be okay if we stick close to shore.”

Mel closes her eyes a moment, inhaling deep through her nose, centering herself. “You know what I want? Food. I want to fall face-first into every single calorie I never got to have.”

“You’ve come to the right place,” I tell her without thinking. “The way Brooks packs for these trips, you’ll make up for it within the hour.”

Melody’s gaze skims the tree line behind me, as though she didn’t hear a word over the wailing wind. But her hand tightens around her beer can.

“I can confirm that’s true,” Brooks says, kneeling to throw open his cooler. “Should we try to start a fire?”

Chapter 4

Melody

“One fully loaded cheeseburger, with extra pickles on the side.”

Shit.

I stare at the paper plate Brooks deposits on my lap. For a cheeseburger thrown together in the middle of a campsite, over an open flame, it looks amazing. Orange cheddar oozing down the sides, the whole thing piled so high with layers of bacon and pickles and caramelized onions he had pre-prepared.

Summer was right. This guy is awesome.

“This looks fantastic,” I say, beaming at Brooks. “Thank you.”

Truly, this burger is the stuff dreams are made of, especially in the wake of my sickening revelation.

Connor had always been a doting boyfriend since the very first date. Showered me with love, affection, and gifts. Told me all the time how beautiful I was. How much he cared. How he wanted me to do well, how we’d spend the rest of our lives together.

He’d always been keen on his own wellness. He took great care of his body, ate well, worked out. At the time, I’d been convinced setting me up with a meal plan and workout regimen meant he cared. That he wanted this to beourthing.

I spent years thinking nothing of his obsession with my diet. And then I saw the three dumbfounded faces staring back at me earlier.

Well, two dumbfounded faces.

The third looked like it was one wrong word away from going scorched earth on anyone who got too close. But I’m not thinking about Zac.

I’m not looking at Zac.

Not seeing how round and full his shoulders are, even under layers of clothes.

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