Breaking Bro Code (The Line Up #4) - Misti Murphy Page 0,86

let her believe the lie.

“This is why I didn’t want you messing with my sister.” Hud glares at me.

“I’m sorry.” I back up. Glass crunches under my boots. “Lil, I wish—”

“Wishes won’t help this,” she says, smiling at me despite the tears giving her bright eyes. Then she turns to Arrow. “Can you…would you mind taking me home? I’m a little discombobulated.”

“Sure thing, little Kelly.” Arrow takes her elbow and ushers her toward the exit.

“This is why I warned you,” Hud says when the door closes behind them. “This is why you should have listened to me. She’s been in love with you forever, and I knew you’d hurt her. And I didn’t want to have to be pissed at my best friend.”

He marches out from behind the bar. Stops beside Cal and claps the guy on the shoulder. “Are we taking your car?”

“Yeah,” Cal says.

“I’ll wait outside.” Hud disappears through the big double doors that lead outside.

“I’ll clean up.” Pez navigates around the glass and heads for the kitchen.

“Fleetwood will be here shortly,” Cal calls out to him.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m numb or something. High on fumes from all the spilled alcohol. I can’t… Lily is gone. She’s left me. She’s leaving. Nothing feels right.

Cal approaches the bar. “You’re not doing okay.”

“No.” I blink. My chest hurts. My heart… doesn’t seem to be pumping my blood around correctly. It’s like Lily was my oxygen. And now… I can’t breathe. I can’t work out what I’m supposed to do next. “No, I’m not okay.”

“Plus, you have a couple of gnarly splinters poking out of your back,” he says. “We need to get you in to see a doctor to deal with that.”

“All right.” I stagger out from behind the bar.

“You’re going to be okay,” he says.

“Really? Because between you and me I’m not sure I could ever be okay without Lily.”

“You’ll fix it,” he says.

“Yes.” I rest a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll pay for the damages. The loss of stock.”

“That’d be appreciated,” he says as we walk toward the exit. “But that’s not what I’m talking about. You’ll fix it with Lily.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“It will when you’re ready.” He gives me this look that says I know you and I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there. I’ve felt the way you do right now.

But I don’t think he possibly can. “It’s better this way.”

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s get you two sorted out.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lily

Hud: Call me, Lil. I need to know you’re okay.

Arrow: Need anything, little Kelly?

Fleetwood: Chin up, girl. Big hugs.

Cal: Probably not what you want to hear right now, but give him time.

Hud: I’m calling your friends. I know you don’t want to talk to me right now, but you need someone in your corner.

Pez: Let me know if you need anything.

Kiki: What the hell happened?

Trix: That bastard!

Lewis: We’re on our way. Just stopped for donuts and tequila.

“Lil, are you in here?” Kiki’s voice drags me out of my semi-comatose state as she enters my bedroom. “We’ve been worried about you. Your brother told us Vale broke up with you. Gave us the key to get in.”

“He asked me to be his girlfriend,” I mumble into my covers. “And then he immediately broke up with me.”

My eyes sting from the crying jags I’ve indulged in since then. My eyelids are swollen and my throat is raw. He chose the ghost of girlfriends past over me. I mean I knew there was always a chance, but I’d hoped… Like a complete idiot I’d fallen irreparably in love with him anyway.

“Let there be light.” Lewis flips the switch on the wall.

I slam my lids shut and pull a pillow over my head. “Turn it off.”

“You can’t wallow, Lilly Pilly,” he says sternly. “You have to pack for L.A. Find an apartment. Find someone to sublet this one. You’re going to be a rockstar of the design world. You can’t do that from underneath your pillow.”

“It just really hurts, you know?” I curl into the fetal position.

“I know, babe,” Kiki croons as she rubs my side. “It’s a horrible feeling having your heart broken. But you’re strong. You can deal with this.”

“I need a little more time to feel awful,” I say.

“You’ve been in bed for a week,” Trix says, her weight sinking onto the bed behind me. She leans over to smooth my hair out of my face. “You should at least get up and take a shower. Have