Chapter 42

“Brees, I didn’t mean anything by it. Where is this anger coming from right now?” he asked.

I pushed the phone back toward him, harder than I intended. It slid across the counter before stopping near his hand.

“You had this hoodie on the night we…” I stopped, my throat tightening. “The night of my birthday. And now she is wearing it in Italy, with nothing underneath, Keegan?”

My voice cracked on the last few words.

I stood up from the table before he could answer. I could see his expression change as he looked back down at the photo. For a second, he just stared at it, almost as shocked as I had been when I first saw it.

“I left that at her house by mistake,” he finally said. “I wouldn’t give her that. It’s one of my favorite shirts. You bought me that hoodie, Brees.”

I laughed bitterly.

“Exactly.”

“Brees—”

“You don’t get it, Keegan.”

“I do get it.”

“No, you don’t.” I shook my head, feeling tears burning behind my eyes. “You keep telling me things like this are accidents. That you didn’t mean anything. That something just happened. There’s always an explanation.”

“Because there is an explanation.”

“There’s always something.”

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “I swear to you, I didn’t give her the hoodie.”

“Keegan, please save whatever excuse you have this time. I’m so tired and drained from this behavior. Doesn’t it get exhausting?”

“What?” he asked, genuinely confused.

I looked at him, and for a moment, I couldn’t believe he could even ask me that.

“Hurting me?” I said somberly.

His face fell.

I didn’t give him the chance to respond.

He reached for me, but I pulled away and pushed past him. I could hear him say my name behind me, but I refused to turn around.

I walked back into the living room and forced myself to breathe.

The party was still going.

Gage had finished his trick, and everyone had moved on to playing charades. People were laughing and shouting guesses across the room. Someone was practically doubled over on the floor, laughing at whatever ridiculous clue was being acted out.

It felt wrong.

How could everyone be having such a good time when I felt like my entire chest had caved in?

I wiped quickly underneath my eyes, hoping no one had noticed.

Casey noticed.

Of course she did.

She came over and sat beside me on the couch without saying anything at first. Then she leaned her head against my shoulder.

I knew this move.

She was protecting me.

She had done it before whenever she sensed I was sad. She didn’t always ask questions immediately. Sometimes she just stayed close enough to remind me that I wasn’t alone.

But tonight, she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t seen my face.

“James, is everything alright?” she asked quietly. “I saw you go into the kitchen with Keegan after Jeff left.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out.

The tears I’d been fighting spilled over instead.

Casey immediately wrapped her arms around me.

“Hey,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

I shook my head against her shoulder.

“No, it’s not.”

She didn’t ask me to explain. She just held me tighter.

Across the room, Baylen kept looking over at us.

I knew he was watching.

I knew he could see the tears on my face.

And I knew he was aware that Keegan had, once again, bruised my heart.

A few seconds later, Baylen stood.

My eyes followed him as he crossed the room toward the kitchen.

Keegan was standing near the counter, his arms crossed and his expression tense. He looked like he was trying to figure out what had just happened.

Baylen didn’t care.

“Dude,” he said, his voice low but firm, “every time my sister is with you, she ends up crying. This shit has got to stop.”

Keegan looked at him.

“Baylen—”

“You’re my best friend,” Baylen continued, not backing down, “but I’ll choose her every single time, bro.”

The room suddenly felt quieter.

Quinn noticed the tension and quickly stepped in.

“Baylen, not here!”

Baylen glanced around at everyone watching.

For a moment, I thought he might keep going.

Instead, he looked toward me.

Then he turned back to Keegan.

“Bay, I’m going to call you tomorrow so we can maybe hash this out,” Keegan said, his voice quieter now.

He grabbed his things from the counter.

Then he looked at me.

“Brees, my apologies about you and Jeff, and also the hoodie.”

I didn’t respond.

I couldn’t.

He reached toward the stairs and nodded.

“I got you a present, even though you weren’t my Secret Santa draw.”

Normally, that would have made me curious.

Normally, I would have smiled.

Normally, I would have followed him upstairs just to see what he’d gotten me.

But I didn’t care.

Not tonight.

I was already embarrassed enough.

I watched Keegan walk toward the door, and something inside me finally went still.

I’d spent so long trying to understand him.

Trying to forgive him.

Trying to believe that maybe this time would be different.

But I was tired.

Tired of the explanations.

Tired of the secrets.

Tired of pretending that being hurt over and over again didn’t change something inside me.

As the door closed behind him, I stared at it for several seconds.

I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow.

I didn’t know if I’d regret what I was thinking.

But in that moment, I made myself a promise.

I intended to never speak to Keegan Patts ever again.

.