Breaking Bro Code (The Line Up #4) - Misti Murphy Page 0,94
that right?”
“You’ve already organized it, no doubt,” I sass him.
He winks. “There’s something organized. That’s all I know.”
“And wi-will Vale be there?” Even now I’m getting choked up. How am I supposed to read ten freaking letters?
“Cal took him off the roster,” Hud says. “He hasn’t worked at the bar since the incident.”
“Oh.” I don’t know what to say to that. “Is Cal that angry?”
“Uh, no. Vale quit the bar.”
“What?” The water shakes in the glass in my hand.
Hud shrugs. “Read the letters, Lil.”
***
It’s my last night in my apartment. I’m all packed. My plane leaves at six a.m. Containers full of everything I don’t need immediately are stacked in a tower against the wall, ready for Hud to move them into the storage shed I’ve rented. The walls are bare. The fridge is empty.
I check my outfit in the mirror on the back of my closet door. Smooth my hand over the little black playsuit with gold details. Fluff my violet hair that I’ve done up in waves.
“Come on, Lil. Pep up.” I smile at myself, but my heart isn’t in it. Three weeks later and I still want to crawl into bed and cry a river. My phone rings from the front of the apartment and I grab my lace up heeled booties with the peep toes. Scurry through the living space.
My bag is on its usual hook. My phone is on the console. I snag the device and put it to my ear as I hunt through my bag for my favorite mauve lipstick. “Hey, this is Lily.”
“Hi Lily,” an unfamiliar female voice says. “I’m Arwen.”
“Arwen.” I uncap the lipstick. “Why is that name so familiar?”
“I’m Vale’s sister.”
“Holy shit. You’re Vale’s sister.” I drop the lipstick. It rolls into a stack of paperwork that still needs to be tossed into a storage box. “Wait? Why are you calling me?”
“Because Vale gave me your number,” she says as though that makes all the sense in the world.
“What?” I brace myself against the end of the console. Unfortunately, that upsets the weight and the whole thing upends along with me. I’m on my knees with my belongings scattered around me. “Ouch. Fuck.”
“Is everything okay? Did something happen?”
“I…” I scratch my forehead. “Sorry, why are you calling?”
“Vale told me that you’re moving to the city and that you might need a friend out here while you’re getting settled. He told me what happened between you,” she says. “I’ve never heard my brother talk about anyone like he talks about you.”
“We’re not together,” I say as I shuffle through the papers for my lipstick tube. His writing stares up at me from the envelope numbered “2.”
“I know,” she says. “He explained. Everything.”
“I don’t know what that means.” I pick up the envelope. It’s slim but weighty. I’m not sure I understand entirely what happened. We were together and then he ripped the rug out from under me and I’ve been scrambling to get my bearings ever since.
“I just wanted to reach out and let you know that I would like to be your friend. You’ve got my number now. Call or text any time. If you need anything.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” She sounds so lovely and I am going to be alone in the city for the first time. It might be nice to have someone close by. But she’s Vale’s sister and that’s weird.
“Lily, I know it doesn’t seem like it now,” she says, “but you are so great for him.”
She hangs up before I can repeat that we’re not together. My breath catches in my chest. It seems to be doing that lately when I think about Vale and how happy we were. Why couldn’t he have asked me to stay? Why couldn’t he have just told me he loved me?
I study the envelope in my hand. Bite my lip as I turn it over. He told me he had a story to tell me. Maybe the answers I need to start to heal are inside. I run my nail along the seal and crack open the first chapter of his origin story.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lily
“Lily? Are you here?” Kiki lets herself into my apartment. ”You’re missing your own party. Dal’s waiting in the Uber downstairs. Oh. What are you doing on the floor?”
Click. Click. Click. Her tiger print heels stop beside me. “Are those the letters?”
“Mmhmm.” The last letter clutched in my hand, I dab my eyes with the end of a roll of toilet paper and sniffle. It was