yes.”
“Take it as a maybe.” I squeeze my eyes shut. You love this man. This is good. But part of me screeches a warning in the back of my mind that I’m being selfish, that I’m using Brogan to put distance between Arrow and me in the only way I know how.
I shake my head, pushing the thought away. This isn’t about Arrow.
“I don’t know where this is going,” I say, and the words soothe my conscience a bit. “I don’t know if what we have can be salvaged.”
He cups my face in one big hand and gives me a sad smile. “I do, Mia. In this, at least, I have enough confidence for us both. We’re good together.”
“Well hello, romantic evening!”
Brogan and I turn to see Bailey standing in the doorway to the kitchen, her hands on her hips. I saw her this morning after I kicked Arrow out and told her everything. I was grateful to have someone I could tell the truth, and I’m grateful to see her now.
“Fucking A, Brogan,” she says, “you planning to win her back through sugar alone?”
Brogan blushes and shrugs. “If that’s what it takes.”
Bailey saunters to the table, grabs a cookie off a plate, and takes a big bite. “Sweet, delicious, sinful carbs, Batman. God, you want to date me? Because keep this shit coming and I will spread my legs, honey.”
“Bailey!” I laugh, then so do Brogan and Bailey, and then we’re all laughing and it feels damn good. Until the humor leaves Brogan’s face completely and his jaw goes hard.
I follow his gaze to see Arrow standing in the doorway, a bouquet of yellow roses in his hand.
I watch as Arrow takes everything in. The candles, the food, Brogan by my side, and then finally the betrayal marring Brogan’s beautiful face.
“Who are the flowers for?” Brogan asks. His voice is hard, and all the softness from his earlier expression is gone.
Bailey gapes, taking two seconds to look at me then Arrow. “Me,” she says, walking toward him and snatching them from his hand.
Arrow plasters on a smile as Bailey wraps her arms behind his neck.
“Thanks, sexy,” she says, rising onto her toes.
And even though I know she’s trying to help me, even though I know there’s no future for me and Arrow, something inside me breaks at the sight of her lips against his.
“You ready to go?” he asks when he pulls back, and the sexy raspiness of his voice and the way he smolders at her—yes, smolders—is so believable that I, for a ridiculous, panicked second, really don’t know for sure that he didn’t come for Bailey.
Brogan clears his throat and shifts. “Does Mason know about you two?”
“Why?” Bailey asks. “You think Mason owns me or something?”
“Um . . .” Brogan looks to me, and I shrug. I don’t claim to keep up with Bailey’s revolving door of boy-toys, but I didn’t think she’d slept with anyone else since she started messing around with Mason.
“Mason and I are history,” she says.
“Bailey?” I say, and she gives me a hard look. If she and Mason broke up, it’s because of Nic, but this isn’t the time or the place to talk about it. Not that she’d want to hear what I have to say about her pushing Mason aside for my brother.
“You two coming?” Bailey asks. She looks at Arrow. “You’re treating us to sushi, at the place uptown, right?”
He looks to me and Brogan and our joined hands. All of his smolder—pretend or otherwise—fades, but he plays along. “But these two probably want to be alone.”
“What do you say?” Brogan asks. “Sushi sound okay to you?” He leans forward, his lips skimming the shell of my ear. “Or would you rather stay in?” he asks, so only I can hear.
Stay here with Brogan? Maybe hang out in my bed where Arrow touched me so intimately just hours ago? Even if I wanted to, my heart couldn’t take it.
Arrow
Well, dinner was fun. Watching Brogan throw himself all over Mia between dirty glances in my direction. Watching Mia’s defenses melt bit by bit until he had her laughing by the end of the meal. Yep. Barrels of fun. A close second to having my junk punched repeatedly. Very, very close.
I get back to the dorm before Brogan and settle into the couch in the common area with my physiology textbook and a beer. I’ve got a test in A&P Tuesday, and if I don’t get my head together and study,