If the Sun Never Sets - Ana Huang Page 0,80

all three of their jaws hung open.

“Wait. Let me get this straight.” Justin held up a hand. “You broke up with a girl you’re still in love with because…you’re afraid you’ll hurt her one day? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Reliving the night of the breakup had sapped Blake of his energy, and he was too tired to snap at Justin. “It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not. It’s simple. You. Are. An. Idiot. Of the highest degree.” Justin shook his head in disgust. “Congratulations, Sir Idiot, you win the award for Most Fucked-Up Reasoning of the Year.”

“Thank you, Sir Syphilis, your input means so much to me.”

“I do not have syphilis. I get tested every two weeks.”

Blake grimaced, trying not to think about how many women Justin had to sleep with to warrant such frequent testing.

“I agree with Justin,” Sammy said. “Man up and tell Farrah the truth about what’s got you all twisted up inside. Pushing her away because of a hypothetical is, in fact, idiotic. It should be her decision whether she stays or leaves.”

She already left. And moved right the fuck on with someone who looked like a reject member of One Direction back when they were still a thing.

“She’s better off without me,” Blake muttered.

“Do you hear yourself?” Sammy threw his hands in the air. “Stop trying to decide what’s best for her! She’s in love with you, you freakin’ doofus. You’re in love with her. Don’t make this so hard. Figure it out.”

“She’s not in love with me. And I don’t want to hurt her.”

Sammy, Landon, and Justin groaned at the same time.

“Moron,” Justin said. “I have a moron for a boss.”

“You’re fired,” Blake reminded him.

“Thank God. Otherwise, your stupidity might bleed into me by osmosis.”

“Blake.” Sammy grabbed Blake by the shoulders and shook him. Actually shook him. “What do you think you did when you pushed Farrah away? You hurt her. We both know how stubborn she can be. She wouldn’t have tried so hard to get you to open up if she didn’t care. She gave you a second chance. She trusted you again even though you broke her heart the first time around. And how did you repay her? By letting her go instead of letting her in. You didn’t even give her a chance to be there for you.”

Blake opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“You done fucked it up this time.” Justin yawned again. “Good luck finding another girl who’ll put up with your shit.”

“Shut up, J,” Landon said.

Meanwhile, dismay crept through Blake’s veins, slow and insidious, until it swallowed him whole. “I’m an idiot,” he realized.

His friends let out another collective groan.

Landon pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a massive migraine.

Justin dribbled the basketball he’d grabbed from Landon, looking like he was on the verge of throwing it in Blake’s face.

Sammy sank onto the floor and rubbed his eyes with a tired hand. “I need a drink.”

The image of Farrah leaving his apartment flashed through Blake’s mind.

FUCK.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The doorbell rang, a loud, unexpected chime that caused Farrah to jump and knock her coffee to the ground. The ceramic mug hit the carpet with a loud thud.

She issued a string of curses that would make a sailor blush.

“Coming!” She checked to make sure none of the liquid had spilled onto her sketches. It hadn’t, thank God. She would die if she had to start all over again.

Farrah had finished Yuliya’s apartment and was now designing the magazine editor’s Soho flat. The editor, a French woman so glamorous she gave a young Brigitte Bardot a run for her money, had relocated from Paris to take the editor-in-chief position at…well, Farrah wasn’t sure. She hadn’t asked. But it must be a high-profile publication if she could afford an apartment in Soho. Magazines weren’t known for their lucrative paychecks.

The doorbell rang again.

“I said I’m coming!”

Farrah skidded across the apartment toward the door, wondering who it could be. Olivia was at work. Delivery guys left their packages in the lobby, and her neighbors never dropped by. Heck, she didn’t know what half of them looked like.

She peered through the peephole. Her heart stuttered when she saw a familiar flash of golden locks and…was that a teddy bear? It was hard to tell, considering the object was so large it filled up half the peephole. Farrah could only make out what appeared to be a furry brown hand holding a red balloon.

Still, there was no mistaking that blond hair. She knew only one person