บททั้งหมดของ Falling for My Best Friend's Brother: บทที่ 151 - บทที่ 160

Avery's POVI got home and sat on my bed and stared at the wall for a while.Not because I had nothing to think about. Because I had too much to think about and none of it was going to sort itself out cleanly no matter how long I sat there, and I knew that, and I sat there anyway.Zoey's voice kept coming back. Not the sharp parts, not the smile or the sarcasm or the way she had looked at me across the table like I was a problem she had already solved. The last part. The quiet part. 'He seems to be in love with that stripper at the club.' Said like a weapon, landing like something else entirely.Because here was the thing. Here was the part I could not outrun no matter how much distance I put between myself and that coffee place.Liam had told me things. He had sat across from me in a library study room and said things that were not controlled, not filtered, not the polished version instead of the honest one. He had told me there were things he was not sure he was allowed to want. He

Avery's POVI turned around.Liam was a few steps behind me, jacket on, bag over one shoulder, moving through the thinning corridor crowd with the particular ease of someone who was used to cutting through spaces without bumping into things. He caught up and fell into step beside me without asking if he could."Hey," he said."Hey," I said."Were you just going to walk straight out?""I have a gap before my next class," I said. "I was going to find somewhere to work.""On the project?""Among other things."He nodded, walking alongside me, and for a second it was just that, two people walking down a corridor after a lecture, nothing loaded in it. I had almost convinced myself that was all it was going to be."Can you do this afternoon?" he said. "Instead of Wednesday. I've got something Wednesday evening that's going to run long and I don't want to cut the session short."I thought about it. I had cheerleading practice until four but nothing after that."What time?" I said."Five-ish,

Avery's POVI had not replied to Raven's text by the time I got to the library.I had read it four more times on the walk home and then twice more while I was getting changed and once more while I was eating something I barely tasted, and each time it said the same thing. 'Someone has been asking questions about Scarlett.' I had typed three different responses and deleted all of them because none of them said what I needed to say without saying too much over text, and eventually I put the phone face down on my desk and told myself I would call her after the session.I was eight minutes early. Liam was already there.He had his laptop open and his notes out and a coffee on the table that was still steaming, and he looked up when I came in and pulled the door shut behind me. He did not mention the corridor. I did not mention it either. We were both apparently operating on the mutual understanding that the most productive thing we could do with this afternoon was work, and I was grateful

Avery's POVI called Raven when I got home.I had been putting it off since the text came through, first because of the project session and then because I needed to be in the right frame of mind to work on the project and be in the same space with Liam and possibly Zoey. By the time I closed my front door behind me it was nearly nine o'clock and I had been carrying Raven's message for the better part of four hours.I sat on my bed and called her.She picked up on the second ring."I was wondering when you were going to call me back," she said."I had a lot of things to take care of," I said. "What's going on?"She was quiet for a second, the kind of quiet that meant she was deciding how to start rather than whether to say anything at all."How long have you been at the club?" she said."You know how long I've been at the club.""Seven months," she said. "In seven months have you ever had a week where your private room requests dropped off completely?"I sat up straighter. "What do you

Avery's POVIt seemed like everything went back to normal and I didn't see nor hear from Zoey on Tuesday. But then towards evening, I realized I concluded too soon about everything being fine. The message came through on Tuesday evening.Not a call. A message, from the club's internal system, the one the manager used when he needed to speak to staff about something that was not urgent enough for a phone call but too formal for a text. It said to come in before my next shift. It said Wednesday at four.I read it three times and then put my phone face down on my desk and sat there for a moment.Raven had said it was only a matter of time. I had thought I had more time than this.I got to the club at five to four on Wednesday. I had spent the better part of Tuesday evening deciding how to walk into that office, which sounds like too much preparation for a conversation but was not, because the way you walked into a room like that set the tone for everything that came after it. I was not g