Breaking Bro Code (The Line Up #4) - Misti Murphy Page 0,33
him.”
“Sure. That’s what you take away from that. He’s fun to talk to.” I shrug. “But that’s all.”
“It’s okay,” he says. “You can tell me. You can admit you’d say yes if he asked you out on a date.”
“That’s not what this is,” I say.
“It’s a dating app.”
“Yes, but—"
“Better yet. You could ask this guy out,” he suggests. “If it keeps you from pining after that dill pickle then it’ll be worth it.”
I don’t know that dill pickle is the word I would use to describe Vale. I snort under my breath. “Not pining.”
“Sure.” He shakes his head as he pulls Trix onto his lap. “Can you believe her, babe? The jackass tells her he doesn’t want her to her face and she’s still pining after him.”
“Ouch,” I say.
“Be nice.” Trix presses her hand into his chest and gives him a stern look.
“That’s your job.” He tucks her hair behind her ear, a gentle expression taking over his face. “Mine is to point out that some men are assholes. And if that means I need to give her some tough love, so be it.”
They’re so intimate. I might as well not even be here.
Clearing my throat, I say, “Would you two like to get a room?”
“Oh, we will.” He chuckles. “As soon as you and I have finished this conversation.”
“Lewis.” Trix gasps as she rises a couple of inches in the screen.
“We don’t need to finish it.” I glance away. I don’t need to see to know what’s going on out of frame. “I can hang up.”
“Don’t you dare.” He leans in to whisper something to Trix before turning his full attention on me. “I know you’re still hung up on him.”
“I’m not.” I have this whole spiel ready about how I don’t want to date. Not first dates or blind dates or double dates. Not with a stranger or a friend or a fox in socks. And I have absolutely no interest in being the chick who doesn’t understand that when a guy says something, he means it. I was raised amongst a flock of men who don’t say shit they don’t mean. Believing differently is a waste of time. But that doesn’t make it easier to block out that I do have these feelings.
“You’re as hung up on him now as you were when we first met. And now… after those pictures, he knows it.”
“I was drunk,” I explain for the fiftieth time while flicking a glance at the ceiling. Thankfully, or I would have nothing to blame my bad behavior on. Unfortunately, I wasn’t inebriated when I told Lewis and Kiki. I only have myself to blame for the awkwardness that is this conversation. “And it didn’t mean anything. A big fat zero.”
It truly was nothing. If there were any muddled thoughts on that, Vale cleared them up when he told me to find someone who actually wanted to be with me. Like my college boyfriend did when I found him making out with that girl’s genitals at a frat party. Yet another reason I don’t bother dating.
It’s cool though. If that’s how Vale feels about the whole situation, it’s fine. I don’t need a guy to validate my worth. I have my career… and my friends… and donuts. I have donuts.
I clamber off the couch and move to the kitchen where I still have a couple of donuts left from the box Lewis had delivered to me this morning. Because that’s the kind of great friends I have. I take a bear claw out of the carton. “Truly.”
“Bullshit,” he says. “That’s why you’re stuffing your face with cheese puffs and sugary baked goods.”
I stare at what is now half a bear claw. “Erm, do you know me at all? This is Friday night dinner, baby.”
He rubs his hand down his face and sighs. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“I’m good.” I lick my fingers and stow the box of Crunch Berries under my arm. “I promise. I’m going to watch The Witcher and flirt with Cap’N Crunch. Possibly eat his berries. And forget all about Vale Westerly and his stupid, pretty face.”
“Okay,” Lewis says. “Message me in the morning?”
“Will do. I love you.”
“Love you too,” he says and then hangs up.
Another name pops onto my screen as soon as Lewis disappears. Speaking of the dill pickle…
Vale: You left without saying goodbye.
“Well, that was because you were being a jackass.” I’m not quite ready to talk to him. Not when every time I think of