Page 73 of Forever Mine
I will be. I’ll make sure of it. I refuse to tuck tail and hide from my problems, hoping they’ll go away. Avoid confrontation and take the past of least resistance are what the old me would’ve done. Old me. New me. I sound like Liz.
Shit. Liz.
Jayson doesn’t know she and Ryder are together.
And let the guilt begin. Julien said he was giving Ryder a week to come clean with Jayson.
“Uh, what’s Liz been up to? I haven’t seen her since Sunday.”
She had dinner with the guys at the condo the other night. Julien wanted me to come, but I had promised Ash that we’d hang out.
Jayson grabs his water bottle and leans against the corner cushion. “Fuck if I know. All I dreamed about for over a year was seeing her again. I prayed every minute of every goddamn day that she was okay and would come back to us. Now that she has… she acts like she can’t stand being around me. It’s fucking killing me. I don’t know what to do.”
I know exactly what to do, and the weight of it feels like chains wrapped around my chest, dragging me down into thedepths of guilt. Jayson’s words about being able to talk to him about anything gnaws at me, the truth itching to claw its way free. I can’t keep Liz and Ryder’s relationship a secret from him. It’s a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode and destroy everything in its path. The kind of destruction that you can’t recover from. My family will be torn in two, and I’ll have to choose. Him or Ryder.
Jayson wipes his face dry on his T-shirt. “Once she gets her memories back, I’ll get my girlfriend back.”
Just say it. Spit it out. Tell him. He deserves to know.
“Jay, there’s something I?—”
“Can we talk?”
Jayson and I glance over to see David standing on the outside of the ring.
He texted me a few times this morning, but I didn’t reply back. Not because I want to avoid him but because I genuinely don’t know what to say to him right now. Last night was… uncomfortable, to say the least.
I nod okay.
Jayson stares David down, a silent warning in his narrowed gaze.
I gather my phone, wallet, and keys where I left them and slip on my shoes. “I’m going to head on out. Julien is going to stay with me at the dorms tonight, so I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.”
David holds the ropes apart for me to duck under, and we walk in terse silence to the front of the building. The early evening humidity hits me as soon as we step outside. Not the most pleasant feeling when I’m already sweaty.
“I kept calling you last night.”
“I wasn’t in the mood to talk.”
I was too busy fucking my boyfriend, but I’m not going to say that.
“You weren’t in calc class.”
“I was.”
I left the auditorium through the back exit. He must have been waiting for me at the front.
“You’ve ghosted all my texts, so I stopped by your room, and Ash said you stayed at Julien’s.”
The way he says Julien’s name has me stopping in the middle of the sidewalk and pivoting around.
“Why are you doing this?”
I don’t get why now. When he first told me he had feelings for me last year, I made it clear they would never be reciprocated because I loved Julien.
Frustration flashes behind David’s caramel eyes, and his voice drops to a very low register. “I care about you.”
I take David’s forearm and pull him off the walkway and into the grass, so that we’re not blocking foot traffic. Somehow sensing the drama about to unfold, a few nosy people are already looking our way—attention I’d like to avoid, if possible.
