Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
He seems to snap out of his frozen state and remembers he was leaving, swiping his keys from the coffee table. “Nah, I can’t make it. Sorry.”
Disappointment swoops in, tightening my ribs a little, so I stand to stretch them out. “That’s okay. Maybe another time.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he mumbles. “Bye, little D. Uncle Chaser is leaving!”
“Bye!” Deaton screams but doesn’t come into the room.
Chase nods and heads for the door, so I turn away, trying not to look bothered by his strange behavior. “Hey, Payton, do you have a charger I can borrow? My phone’s been off all day.”
“Yeah, one sec.” She heads into the hall, and when I turn around, I find Chase is standing there staring at me, the door wide open and his body halfway out.
He opens his mouth but closes it and shakes his head. His eyes soften, but he just gives a pinched smile and leaves, though I’m pretty sure I hear him cuss himself out as he does.
Frowning, I move toward the couch and sit down, realizing the boys are staring at me, both seemingly fighting a laugh. “What?”
“Twenty bucks says Chase is miraculously able to go to the show,” Brady says.
Mason throws his hands up. “I was going to bet her!”
“Too slow, my man.” Brady smirks, thrusting his hand out to me.
Unable to hold in a chuckle, I take that bet, unsure why they would assume so.
It all becomes clear when I plug in my phone, and about ten minutes later, it powers on and my messages from this morning come through.
The boys’ heads snap my way, and I give them a strange look, but then I look down and it’s Chase’s name that’s on the screen, a message from early this morning.
“Who is it from?”
“What’s it say?”
“Oh my god, you guys,” Ari laughs.
I open the message.
Chase: thank you for yesterday. I’m not sure I could have played how I did if it weren’t for you, so here goes nothing
I smile at the three little clap emoji that follow, and then my heart drops into my stomach as I read the last line.
Chase: I’m grateful for you, Paige, maybe even a little more than a friend should be.
Butterflies erupt in my belly, and I curl my toes in my sandals.
I don’t know what this means, but I know why he left. He thought I’d gotten his message and chose not to respond, realizing the moment before he walked out that he was wrong.
I’m not sure what to say, to be honest, or if I’m reading too much into something that isn’t there, so I just go with my gut.
Me: Say you’ll come on Tuesday.
I clench my phone, and I swear I hear the chirp of a message received coming from the other side of the front door, as if he’s still standing out there, waiting to see if I respond, but I can’t say for sure. My phone beeps in my palm a moment later.
Chase: I’ll wear blue.
My mouth curves, a low laugh leaving me. I reach into my purse and pull out a twenty, tossing it in Brady’s lap.
He looks down and then he throws his head back with a laugh.
Tuesday can’t come fast enough.
CHAPTER TEN
Chase
“Stop fucking fidgeting. You’re making me nervous.” Brady glares.
I scoff. “What the hell do you have to be nervous about?”
“What the hell do you have to be nervous about?”
My head snaps forward in straight-up avoidance.
“Bro, just tell us what the message said.”
I catch Mason’s grin in my peripheral. “Shut up.”
“If you tell us, we’ll tell you what she told us after she read it…”
My eyes yank his way so fast, and instantly, both of my asshole best friends start laughing, perceptive grins on their faces. I’m not sure why I’m so easily baited when I know Paige didn’t put me on blast. She’s not the type.
Am I her type?
The universe has a funny way of mocking me, testing and tearing at me, and the moment I think it, a sleek, black SUV pulls up to the curb, and none other than Noah Riley slides out…wearing a deep-navy-blue, three-piece suit.
My insides coil, and I resist the urge to look down at the outfit I was feeling pretty good about, a black button-up, navy slacks, and a matching jacket. It’s the outfit I bought for last season’s football gala—it’s the knockoff version of Noah’s.
That familiar feeling of inadequacy, of never measuring up, sinks in my chest, heavy and unwelcome, like a weight against my ribs, making it a chore to act unbothered. Hell, it’s a chore to breathe correctly.
How could I be her type when she too once dated the man before me, even if, from what Mason told me, it was more a situation of two young best friends who trauma-bonded over their sick parents. Still. In my eyes, that means she was his once. Still is in the friend department; it’s how we met her, after all. As far as I know, she had no other friends until Noah introduced her to Ari, who introduced her to Cam and the rest of us.