All Chapters of The Goodbye He Never Saw Coming : Chapter 51 - Chapter 59

MIKE After the game, I head back to my hotel room to wash up. The moment I walk through the door, I see Olivia. She's sitting in a corner of the room holding a plate of food. But she's not eating it. She's just sitting there, glaring at me. "Olivia, I need to..." Before I can finish, she hurls the plate at me. It shatters against my arm. Food splatters everywhere. A sharp edge slices my wrist. "You eliminated me!" she screams. "You! The man who was supposed to protect me! How did it work out for you, huh? Chasing after Winter like a dog when she doesn't even remember you! You didn't just make a fool of me—you made a fool of yourself! And that's what you are—nothing but a fool!" Something inside me snaps. I cross the room in two steps and slap her hard across the face. The sound echoes in the room. Olivia stumbles back, hand flying to her cheek, staring at me in shock. I look down at my wrist. Blood is seeping from the cut where the plate hit me. "You were a mi

TREASURE Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. What have I done? I stand there watching Winter scream at Mike in the middle of the hallway, and my brain is doing that thing where it plays a very loud alarm sound on repeat. ABORT MISSION. ABORT MISSION. THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA. If I had known it would escalate to this extent, I would not have done what I did. Well, okay, that's a lie. I probably still would have done it because Mike is a garbage human who deserved to be exposed. But I would have maybe... I don't know... prepared better? Warned Winter first? Not told her right before she was about to murder him in public? I had only tried to get Winter to give up on Mike completely. Forever. No take-backs. No "but what if he changes" nonsense. Just a clean break. If I had known she would be this affected, I would have at least picked a better location. Like maybe not in the middle of a resort full of people with phones who are definitely recording this. My heart is pounding so

WINTER We're kissing, and it feels different this time. Not the kissing itself. We've probably kissed hundreds of times by now. I know exactly how Nath tastes. I know the way he angles his head, the way his hands cup my face, the little sound he makes when I bite his lower lip. We've done this before. We've had sex in this bed, against that wall, once memorably in the shower when we both nearly died slipping on the tiles. But this time, something's changed. This time, we've said the words. I love you. He loves me. And somehow that transforms everything. His hands find the hem of my white dress and he pulls it up slowly. I lift my arms and he slides it over my head, tossing it somewhere behind him. I'll find it later. Or not. Who cares. I reach for his shirt and he helps me pull it off, and then we're skin to skin, and God, I've missed this. It's been less than forty-eight hours since we last did this, but after last night—after thinking I'd lost him, after that a

TREASURE I laugh. I can't help it. "Come on, Ace. To be honest, I do have the hots for you. But not just you. A few other guys I've seen here in this resort too." His eyebrows shoot up. "Are you for real?" "Yeah, it's just who I am. I mean, I'm attracted to a lot of guys, actually. And to be honest, you're one of them. But I'm not cut out for a relationship. I'm not ready for one. I have other priorities." "Is that so?" He tilts his head. "What about a fling, then?" I smile. "Nah. Too cheap for me." "Really. So when do you ever plan to be in a relationship?" I shake my head. "I don't know. I guess when I achieve my dreams. Maybe in the next five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years." He laughs. "You know what? I like the sound of that." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card. "Here. Don't misplace my card. If in the next five, ten, fifteen, or forty years you decide that you want a relationship and you still have the hots for me, give me a call. Who know

WINTER Nath and I head back to the room, and the second we're inside, we both collapse onto the bed like someone cut our strings. "I'm exhausted," Nath says. "Same. Nap time?" "It's not even noon." "Your point being?" He laughs and pulls me close. "No point. Nap time it is." And we pass out again. Because apparently we're those people now. The kind who nap in the middle of the day and don't feel remotely guilty about it. --- When we wake up, it's almost evening. The sun is doing that golden hour thing where everything looks like a movie. The room is bathed in warm light. And I feel more rested than I have in literal months. "Hey," Nath says sleepily. "Hey yourself." "We slept all day again." "Best day of my entire life." He laughs and kisses my forehead. "So. What now?" "Actually," I say, sitting up. "I want to talk about the swimming thing." "The swimming competition?" "Yeah. The one that's in seven days. The one where I'm going to spectacularly em