Page 65 of I'm Gonna Get You Back
“Oh, was it?” she snaps, her biting tone dripping with sarcasm. “Was hooking up with my best friendawful for you?”
“Yes.”
My voice is strangled. She goes still, some of the anger draining as it’s replaced with hurt.
“I can’t believe this.”
“It was nothing—”
“Then why keep it from me? Why didn’t you text me or call me orsomething?”
Because I couldn’t hear her voice knowing she didn’t want me. I couldn’t text with her like we were just friends. I couldn’t believe what I had done.
But all I can manage to say is, “I couldn’t.”
I scrub my hands down my face, fatigue compressing my skull from the inside out. “It was a drunken mistake. I don’t like her like that and never have, but I knew that—”
I stop myself as our gazes collide again.
“What?” she urges.
The air between us vibrates the longer we stare at each other. The longer she waits for me to finish that sentence.
“I know it’s over. It’sbeenover. But—” I sigh, push a hand through my hair again. “I knew the second you found out, I’d lose you for good.”
It’s an admission that she tracks instantly. That I had hope before that, despite the way things ended, we might stand another chance someday.
She shakes her head. “Wow. What a convenient excuse. Blamemefor what you two did.”
“That’s not—”
But she’s walking away, furious. Which is exactly what I knew would happen. Exactly what I deserve.
Fracturing all over again.
CHAPTER SIXTEENREIDTHEN
THE EARLY HOUR OFthe sunrise hike could have accounted for the reason Clara and I were both silent as we walked, but not for the tension hanging between us. That had been there ever since the hot springs, when I realized I couldn’t keep things casual anymore.
Knowing that if I told her that, I could lose her.
“You’re…” Clara trailed off, cocking her head to the side as she examined me. “Different today.”
“Different?”
“Yeah… Everything okay?” she asked seriously.
I wasn’t sure it would be once I gave her the card.
“Of course.” I forced away my nerves with a cocky smile, just like I did before a race. “It’s your birthday.”
We were on a part of the trail that had narrowed to a single-file footpath. When the scrape of her boots stopped in the dirt, I turned. She was fighting a smile when she said, “You remembered.”
I let out an exaggerated scoff. “You think I arranged a sunrise hike to your favorite overlook because I like getting up before dawn?”
“You athletes are weird like that.”
I brushed the ponytail off her neck, placing a soft kiss below her ear. “Happy birthday.”
