My jaw tightens as I stare at the dark ribbon of road stretched out in front of us. “Don’t think I’m not trying,” I mumble. “Every damn night, I’m trying to get over that girl.” There’s no point in specifying which one I’m talking about.
He knows. Just like he knows why I’ve been in a shit mood for the last five months. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out.
“You screw so much,” he says, “that I’m surprised your dick hasn’t shriveled up and fallen off. Remind me to buy you some balm for your birthday.”
A hint of a smile lifts my lips, although it doesn’t quite reach my eyes. “Don’t I know it, brother.”
A heavy silence falls over us as I crank the steering wheel and turn onto the main stretch of road. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask about Alyssa. I haven’t seen her around for a while. And she blocked my ass on all her socials. Which...I can’t exactly blame her for. But tell me how I’m supposed to stalk that chick if I can’t see what she’s up to?
I try to swallow down the words, but they refuse to budge. It’s only a matter of time before they burst free.
One second slips by.
Then another.
“Did Mia mention Lys at all?”
Fuck me. I’ve done my best to scrub that girl from every part of my life. Evicting her from my head and heart has turned out to be more complicated than I assumed.
Beck scrutinizes me silently before tossing a crumb my way. Not that I deserve it with the bullshit I just pulled. He’s a better friend than I am. “Guess she’s studying abroad in London for the year.”
His answer takes me by surprise. I blink and stare straight ahead as my lips tug down at the corners. “No shit?”
“Yup.”
My heart constricts. It’s like there is a vise squeezing it.
“Huh.” That’s all I’m capable of forcing out.
It’s weird to think of Alyssa not being here. At the same school. In the same town. In the same damn state. Hell, the country. Even when I was trying to ignore her, she was here. I could keep an eye on her. I caught glimpses of her around campus when she didn’t know I was looking.
And now she’s gone.
A heavy pit settles in my gut. I’m so fucking tempted to pelt him with more questions. This time, I keep them buried deep inside. In the months since our breakup, I’ve done my damnedest to move on. It hasn’t worked. So maybe...maybe this is for the best.
Out of sight, out of mind...right?
Let’s hope that turns out to be the case.
Chapter Twelve
Alyssa
March of junior year...
Jack grabs hold of my hand and laces our fingers together before flashing me a cheeky smile as we take in the shops on Oxford Street. The skies are overcast, but the weather is seasonable for this time of year in London, which means it’s about fifty degrees. We’re both bundled up in jackets. I can’t help but return his easy expression.
Effortless.
That would be the perfect word to describe my relationship with him.
He’s handsome, charming, and so very British.
I’ve turned into something I never expected to be—a cliché. I could listen to him talk all day long. And I flipping love when he uses words like—bullocks, bloody, and knackered. It makes me laugh every time. And the guy knows it, which is exactly why he does it. He gets a little twinkle in his dark eyes when my lips start to twitch.
And he’s a footballer.
Well, I mean soccer player. In England, it’s called football, and it’s huge. Like nothing I could have imagined. One of the big rivalries is Arsenal versus Tottenham. Having been born and bred on American football, I never paid much attention to professional soccer. A few high school games here and there, but that was the extent of it.
When Jack realized I was totally clueless about the sport, he took the time to explain the rules, and over the months, I’ve grown to enjoy it. It’s fast-paced, and the fans are rabid. I would pit them against the most diehard football fans any day. He even bought me a scarf to hold at the matches we’ve attended when the team jogs onto the pitch.
And watching him sprint across the field certainly isn’t a hardship. He’s thick and muscular and reminds me nothing of a certain someone else.
We met at a pub while I was out with my roommate. Much to Jack’s