Page 115 of Wrecking Us

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Which is unlike her…

Mandy loves a good party. We’ve always had that in common, but tonight she seems different. Guarded, I guess. More than usual.

She’s had every chance to schmooze the guys tonight, but it’s like she’s taken the night off, even though we both know she didn’t.

I shoot back my beer as I let her pull me out on the dance floor. She wraps her arms around my neck and I settle my hands on her hips as the music blares.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” she says, pulling herself closer to me.

“You have been avoiding Reid Stone all night,” I bite. “Why?”

“Trey…” She sighs.

“Mandy, if he hurt you or something, I swear—”

“What?” she squeals. “Oh no, Trey, you’ve got it wrong.”

Someone shuffles past us, knocking her into me. I steady her and she rests her head against my chest.

“Then tell me, Mandy, how it is?” I say with disdain.

I’m not sure where my agitation is coming from.

“It’s… complicated,” she says.

Complicated? Fuck, Mandy doesn’t know the half of it. I could give her complicated…

“Try me.”

I tighten my grip on her as she clings to me.

“Juliet’s in another coffin,” she says with a sigh.

“What?”

“Romeo…”

And then it hits me. Romeo, the guy she’d been seeing…

“Romeo is Reid Stone?” I hiss. “Doesn’t he have a girlfriend?” I blink. “And a kid?”

“Yes,” she says bitterly. I curse under my breath.

“But I mean, they broke up a couple weeks ago.”

“Mandy…” I sigh. “How long?”

She wraps her arms around me tighter, looking away.

“How long?” I ask, feeling a strange sense of protectiveness and sadness.

“It started right before he signed with the Rioters,” she says, her voice low. Scared.

“Before he signed with the Rioters?”

I try to do the math, but I’ve had a lot to drink, though I’m fairly sure that means it’s been a little more than a year…

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