Breaking Bro Code (The Line Up #4) - Misti Murphy Page 0,87

something to eat. We picked up some donuts and some of your favorite sandwiches.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sure you are,” Lewis says.

“I’m too sad to eat.” My stomach grumbles.

“You’ll have a little something,” Trix orders.

Maybe I’d feel a little better if I did put something in my stomach. I sit up slowly and toss off the covers. “Okay. Fine. What time is it?”

“A little after seven,” Lewis says.

“That’s early.”

“It’s Friday night,” he says dryly.

“Oh.”

“Shower first,” Kiki says. “We’ll wait in the living room.”

I’ve been in bed too long. My muscles protest on the way to the shower. I turn on the water and use the toilet while I wait for it to heat up. Ten minutes later I feel like I could pass for a reasonable human being as I brush the snaggles out of my hair. Barely, that is. My eyes are bloodshot. And I’m pretty sure someone opened up my chest cavity and left me with nothing but a hole where my heart should be. And then thinking about Vale makes my heart feel like it’s breaking all over again.

I pull on sweats and a tank top and check my phone. There are a million messages. Mostly from Hud. There isn’t a single one from Vale or Cap’N Crunch. So it’s really over. This isn’t some nightmare that I’m going to wake up from. He’s in love with someone else. And not someone in the picture, who he could actually have a relationship with. It hurts so freaking much that he’d pick her over me. But then my mother picked drugs over me. And my father picked work over me. Even I was willing to pick him over me. The only person who has always chosen me first is Hud. That’s what he was doing when he tried to beat Vale up for being with me. His misguided attempt to protect me was just another example that my brother will always be in my corner. Not that I ever needed him to be that overprotective. Not that I’m not a big girl who can handle her own dating life like an adult. I was doing just fine.

“Cruller?” Kiki asks, holding one out to me when I enter the kitchen.

“Thanks.” I take it and tear a chunk off it and pop it in my mouth.

Trix is pouring fresh coffee into mugs. She puts one in front of me with a sympathetic smile.

“Thanks.” I sip the sweet brew. It soothes my head. It does nothing for me heart.

“You want me to throw out your cereal?” Lewis asks, rifling through my kitchen cupboards.

I glance at the boxes of Cap’N Crunch and Crunch Berries. I can barely swallow the chunk of donut as my eyes water. “Please. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at breakfast foods the same.”

“Gotcha.” He starts pulling the boxes out. “And I told Coda you won’t be reviewing the app. Seems like the app has been pulled, though.”

“He removed it?” I guess he’s really not going to message me then. All these years… now we’re supposed to what? Forget each other exists?

“That’s what I heard,” he says.

“Carlan asked about you today,” Kiki says. She’s been covering for me all week at work. “Wanted to know if there was anything he could do. Suggested chicken noodle soup for your raging influenza.”

“I couldn’t face going to work,” I admit. Flu had been my cover story.

“He wants to know if you’re going to take the position.”

“I…” would have stayed for Vale, but he didn’t even want me to do that. He told me I had to take it. Maybe I should. It is what I wanted. And it would be easier to get over him with distance and time, right? I will get over him eventually. What’s half of nine years? Don’t they say it takes half the amount of time you’ve been in love with someone to get over them?

“You need to do this for you,” Lewis says. “It’s what you wanted. Maybe not the place you expected to be. But…”

“I’m going to take it.” I would have before Vale. Would have chosen my career to the detriment of everything else. Now, I need time to pull myself together. Away from him. “I’ll call Carlan. Monday morning.”

“That’s great news,” Kiki says. “I mean, we’ll miss you, but we want you to be happy.”

My eyes well up again.

“Come here, you goofy girl.” Lewis wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side. “We’ll video chat all the