The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,51

miss you.”

“You expect me to go in there and watch Charlie love her the way he used to love me?” She turned to me, her eyes red and irritated.

“I expect you to make an effort for us to stay friends, because no matter what happens, we’re all friends. I know this is hard for you and I can’t even imagine how you must feel, but our friendship is so important. We should all be together.”

She turned back to the cab and pushed my arm down.

This time, I stopped fighting. “I still need you, Kat. My life isn’t the same without you.” I put my heart out there, vulnerable and bare, but it wasn’t enough.

She got into the cab and left.

I grabbed the clothes off the hangers and folded them before placing them in one of the boxes.

Denise helped organize my things while Dax leaned against the headboard on the bed, his ankles crossed at the edge. Charlie leaned against the wall with his head tilted back, looking at the light fixture in the center of the room. Matt stood in the doorway.

My bedroom was way too small for five people, but we crowded inside anyway.

I kept working like nothing happened.

“I don’t know what to do,” Charlie whispered. “Our conversation seemed to go well.”

Denise had her head down, like she felt personally responsible for everything.

“I’m sure it was totally different to actually see it happen in the flesh.” I pulled down another sweater and folded it before I handed it to Denise. “I think we’ve done everything we can do. I told her how much we love and miss her, but she just…” I shrugged and turned back to the closet to grab the next sweater. “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do. Just have to let it be.”

Charlie sighed from the floor. “I’m sorry, Carson…”

“Don’t be.” I grabbed a couple more items than handed them to Denise. “You deserve to be happy. You shouldn’t have to apologize for that. You did everything you could have possibly done to prevent this, so maybe there was nothing any of us could ever do.” I was sad that I’d lost my friend and it would hurt for a long time, but I also accepted the fact that there was nothing more I could do, nothing anyone could do.

It is what it is.

“I texted her the other day, and she didn’t even text me back,” Matt said. “And I have nothing to do with any of this. It seems like she’s the one not making the effort. From my point of view, we did everything we could to make this work. She’s the one who just refuses to see that.”

After my clothes were gone from the closet, it was totally empty.

And it was a strange sight.

The last time one of my closets was empty like this, I’d moved in with Evan.

But I knew this time when I left, I wouldn’t come back.

It was different with Dax.

“Looks like the closet is done.” I turned back to them and approached the dresser. “We’re making good time. I guess procrastinating isn’t the worst thing in the world.” I spoke to a room full of people, but it felt empty, because they couldn’t brush off what happened either.

Dax got off the bed then came to me, wrapping his arms around me and pressing his face into the crook of my neck. “It’ll be alright, sweetheart. Someway, somehow, it’ll be alright.”

We got everything into the back of the van that was parked at the curb outside my building. Once all of my stuff was gathered and put into one spot, I realized how little I actually had. Some of my things had been left behind at Evan’s place because I didn’t want anything that reminded me of him.

Matt stared at the van before he turned to Dax, who was in sweatpants and a t-shirt that looked tight over his strong muscles. “So, you’re going to drive that to your place?”

“Yes,” Dax said with a grin. “I’ve driven a vehicle before.”

It was big and boxy and had an obnoxious logo along the side. I grinned. “It’s not a Bugatti, but you’ll still look hot driving it.”

“Whoa, what?” Matt asked. “You have a Bugatti?”

I gave him a glare. “Matt.”

Dax held up his two fingers. “Two. One in black—and one in red.” He moved to the driver’s side door.

Matt looked like he wanted to faint.

“We’ll pile up in the back so we can all go together.” Charlie was in his