Anti-Stepbrother - Tijan Page 0,72
over me. “Thank you, Clarissa.”
“Did you want me to call back later tonight? We could talk about the guy.”
“No. I don’t even want to talk about the guy.”
“So there is a guy! I got that out of you at least.”
My cheeks were hurting, stretched tight from my stupid grin. “Love you, Clarissa.”
We’d just hung up when I heard, “You okay?”
I hadn’t heard my door opening, but there stood Avery with a concerned frown on her face. She gestured to my phone. “I couldn’t help but overhear some of that. What’s going on?”
I felt raw and exposed, and I was done feeling that way. “Stupid boy stuff.”
She came in, shutting the door behind her, and crossed to sit on my bed. “Kevin?”
I started to shake my head, but stopped. “I’m not trying to shut you out, but I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“No, that’s cool, but…” She looked down to her lap.
“What?” I turned completely around in my desk chair, gripping the back of it.
“He broke up with Maggie.”
Caden had called it. Kevin had laid out the breadcrumbs for me to follow.
“Really?”
“He moved out, and he’s at the fraternity again.”
“You’ve talked to Maggie?”
She nodded, watching me carefully. “She said he had feelings for a different girl.”
Oh. My. God.
It was happening.
The evidence was in front of me, all of it.
Kevin really did have feelings for me. He’d ended things first with Maggie. As if he was going to magically appear, I glanced at my door. I could almost feel him on the other side of it. I frowned.
“She actually asked me to ask you for a favor,” Avery continued.
“Who?”
“Maggie.”
“Maggie what?”
“Maggie asked me to ask you a favor.”
My mind was spinning. “Huh?”
Avery cocked her head to the side. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You seem a little more out of it than normal.”
I gave her a rueful grin. “Caden said something like that to me on Friday. I must need to rein in my weirdness.”
She was still giving me a weird look. “Maybe a little. You’re having a hard time following this conversation.”
I nodded, and then refocused. “Okay. What’s the favor?”
“She wants you to find out who the girl is.”
“Say what?”
“Kevin always has another girl on standby. If he ended things with Maggie, there’s got to be a new girl already. He didn’t even make it six months this time. Can you go ask him who it is?”
Cue the awkwardness. It was me, I was pretty sure, but I needed to make sure, or I needed to make sure he knew I wasn’t an option. The real reason I was going? I wanted to see Caden. A weekend was too long.
“I’ll go.”
“You will?” Avery’s eyes went wide.
I grinned. “I mean, yeah, I’ll go and ask him. I don’t think he’ll tell me.”
She snorted. “You won’t have to ask. She’ll probably be in his room already.”
“Yeah. Maybe.” Then I asked, “So we’re pro-Maggie now? I mean, you’re pro-Maggie again?”
Her hands had been on her knees, but she pulled them back at my question. She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know what I am, but she’s bawling in my room, and I couldn’t kick her out.”
I reached forward, laying my hand over hers. “You’re a real friend. You know that, right?”
“Or I’m a stupid friend.” She lifted up gloomy eyes. “She’s going to go after Marcus again. I can feel it.”
“But that won’t matter, because he’s with you, right?” When she said nothing, I added, “I can see him wanting her to want him, but just so he can enjoy it when he rejects her.” I sat back, my hand leaving hers. “I don’t think you need to worry.”
I hoped I was right.
I stood outside the basement door and flashbacks from my first night at North River—the first time I ever came to Kevin’s fraternity house—washed over me. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe the uncertainty? Because I didn’t know what I would find on the other side of that door? Either way, the nerves I felt that night hit me again.
I smoothed my hands down my pants. There was no need for them to be sweaty. I just needed to get this over. “My love life sucks,” I muttered under my breath.
“It does if you’re heading down there.”
I recognized that voice. Of course. I had the best luck in the world. But then again—I looked at Marcus. “Why are you here?”
He smirked, but his eyes weren’t amused. “I’m here to see Caden. I thought I’d walk through the house, and I saw you.” His face went