Page 134 of Betting on You

“Yeah,” Nekesa said, looking at Theo with a question in her eyes as Eli and Dana showed up behind her. “What are you talking about?”

Charlie flexed his jaw, watching me.

“Charlie and I made a bet a few months ago,” Theo said, speaking to Nekesa now. “It was before any of us were friends. Charlie made a wager that he could get Bailey.”

I squinted and said,“Get?”

My face got hot with embarrassment as Charlie’s guilty gaze went to a spot just beyond my shoulder. His voice was quiet when he said, “It was just talk, Bay. It didn’t mean—”

“Oh my God,” I said, feeling dizzy—no,numb—as I realized the truth. Colorado, the pullout sofa, the blanket fort—that was all himgettingme to win a bet. No wonder he was gone before I woke up; he’d already won.

Unless—my stomach churned as it occurred to me that everything we’d been through, said to each other, what we shared, was all to “get” me. And what the fuck did that mean?

I felt like such a fool. Had weeverbeen friends, or had our entire “relationship” been him trying to “get” me to win a bet?

“Bay,” he replied, his expression unreadable aside from the red splotches on each of his cheeks. “You have to know—”

“Shutup.” I wasn’t a violent person, but rage bubbled inside me and I wanted to hit something.

Someone.

Because he wasonlyMr. Nothing. All those times I’d looked at him and thought about how Charlie wasn’t at all what I’d initially judged him to be? That was just my own gullibility, my own pathetic wishful thinking.

He was Charlie from the airport, and I was a fool.

“Dana,” Nekesa said, jerking my attention from Charlie to her. She lifted her chin and said, “Can I get a ride home? I think it’s best if Bailey and I don’t share a car right now.”

I hated the expression on her face at that moment, because she looked as disappointed in me as I was in Charlie.

“Wait,” I said, holding out a hand in desperation as I stepped in front of her. “Please let me explain—”

“You don’t get to talk—are you kidding me with that?” Her nostrils flared and she shook her head in disgust. “I’m sorry, Bay, but I can’t… I just. Why,” was all she whispered before walking away. I watched Dana follow her, and I felt like a monster.

“Bailey.”

I looked back at Charlie, and his face was serious in a way I’d never seen. He almost lookedscared, which was impossible because he’d have to be able to feel something to be scared.

“What, Charlie?” I bit out, trying to keep my emotions contained when all I wanted to do was cry.“What?”

“The bet was nothing,” he said, stepping closer to me. “I know it was wrong, but I made it before we became friends—”

“Coworkers,” I corrected.

“Friends,”he insisted.

“Really?” I hated him at that moment for having that face. He was staring at me, his dark eyes intense, and it wasn’t fair that his face still felt like a comfortable thing to me. So familiar that I knew his left eyebrow was marginally thicker than the right and he had the tiniest mole just to the left of his mouth. His face looked like the face of my best friend, a friend I could trust with anything. “Well, if that’s the case, you were a really shitty friend.”

“Don’t say ‘were.’?” He swallowed and clenched his jaw before he said, “We’re not past tense, Bay.”

“Youmade us past tense,” I said, my voice cracking, “not me.”

“Bailey—”

“I have to go.”

I turned away from him, my heart pounding and my face burning as I went to my car. I was nearly running, desperate to keep him from saying another word. I couldn’t handle hearing anything more. I didn’t want to forgive him—couldn’t forgive him—because he wasn’t friend material.

Not for me, at least.

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