Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,110

on to tell Brody how Mina had overheard that joke I'd made at the Buckville Fairgrounds – the one about dumping her when the campaign was over.

When I finished, Brody said, "Oh, yeah? How'd that go?"

"You know how it went," I said. "She dumped me first."

With a low chuckle, he said, "And you still can't believe it, can you?"

No. I couldn't, actually.

In my whole life, I'd never had any girl walk away from me. It was a new experience, and one I wasn't enjoying.

I told Brody, "I don't know what I believe."

"Yeah you do," he said. "You're just having a hard time facing it, that's all."

"Oh, yeah? And how would you know?"

"Because I've been there."

Sure, he had. I leaned back in the seat and said. "By the way, you or Mason need to handle the festival stuff tonight. I'm done."

Brody laughed. "God, what a pussy."

I felt like slugging him. "Are you fucking serious?"

He made a show of looking around. "You see anyone else in the truck?"

"I'm no pussy," I said. "I’m just tired of the bullshit."

Brody gave a slow nod. "I'll give it a day, maybe two."

"For what?"

"For you to pull your head out of your ass and see things the way they really are."

He was wrong.

It didn't take me a day. It took me less than five hours before I was willing to face the truth. I'd messed up, bigtime.

I'd been arrogant, stupid, and blind, even more so when I considered what I'd lost.

Mina.

Chapter 75

Mina

After leaving Chase along the roadside, I drove straight to my parents' house and spent nearly an hour wallowing in misery.

On the upside, with my whole family at the festival, I had plenty of privacy to vent my frustrations into my pillow before cleaning myself up and leaving once again for the fairgrounds.

Like a total sap, I even drove back along the same road where I'd left Chase, just to make sure that he wasn't stranded along the roadside.

When I didn't see him, I figured that was that.

Good.

I was done anyway – done crying, done obsessing, done thinking about him at all.

Or at least, that's what I kept telling myself even as I returned to the festival and wandered through the midway, trying to pretend that everything was okay.

I still had a job to do, and I was determined to do it, so I spent the next several hours fielding any media inquiries and posing for pictures whenever anyone asked, which made me feel totally ridiculous, considering that I wasn't picture-worthy on my own.

No. The only reason anyone wanted my picture was because they were under the mistaken impression that I was still somehow connected to Chase.

I wasn't.

And yet, his words from earlier haunted me more than I cared to admit. He'd said that he loved me. Oh sure, he hadn't said it to me directly, but he had said it.

And what had I said in return? Nice try.

But in my own defense, it had seemed like just another ploy to patch things up temporarily so he could get his money's worth on the publicity front.

But now, a little voice in my head reminded me that I was the one who'd broken up with him, and that if he were telling the truth – that he hadn't planned to dump me at the end of the campaign – well, in that case, I'd thrown away something pretty spectacular over a simple misunderstanding.

Tonight was the demolition derby, and I had no plans to attend. Already, I'd heard through the grapevine that the trophies were going to be awarded by Brody Blastoviak, Chase's younger brother.

And Chase? Apparently, he wasn't planning to return tonight at all.

Fine.

No one wanted him here, anyway.

I held onto this belief for maybe three or four hours before I decided that I was full of it. I did want him here, and by now, I was kicking myself for not doing a better job of listening to whatever he'd been trying to tell me in the car.

It didn't help that everywhere I looked, I saw happy couples holding hands, going on rides together, or sharing cotton candy and funnel cakes like Chase and I used to do.

And we'd been happy.

Hadn't we?

By seven o'clock that night, I was officially done working. I spent some time with my parents and sister, along with my brother and his wife, and later, a few friends from high school.

And even though I tried to be upbeat, my heart was heavier than it had been in a long time, even