All Chapters of Falling for My Best Friend's Brother: Chapter 381 - Chapter 390

Avery's POVThe board took four days to reconvene.Four days where I went through the ordinary motions of lectures and practice and tried not to check my phone every hour for a message that was not coming any faster. Mia and Priya kept telling me not to spiral. I kept telling them I was not spiraling, and we all knew that was not entirely true.The message came on Tuesday morning. Vega wanted me back in the same meeting room at eleven. I read the text three times before I put my phone down, my hands unsteady and shaking a bit.I sat in the same chair, and the same three board members sat behind the same long table, and the woman in the middle spoke first this time, without any preamble she had used before."We have reached a decision," she said. "Miss Nash will retain her position as captain. In reaching that decision, the board reviewed statements from members of the cheer squad, coaching staff, and support personnel. What those interviews confirmed, consistently and without a single

Avery's POVVega caught me after practice. She waited until the rest of the squad had cleared out before she said anything, the gym quiet around us except for the hum of the lights overhead and the distant sound of someone's trainers squeaking on the far end of the court."You are still struggling with your hours," she said."Always," I said. "Why?""The athletics department has an opening," she said. "They are looking for a marketing assistant, part time. It came up in a board meeting a few days ago, and I thought of you the moment I heard it, given how long you have been trying to make your finances work on scraps this whole semester."I put down the water bottle I had been holding."What kind of hours.""Ten a week, maybe twelve," Vega said. "The pay is decent. And it is on campus, which removes a lot of the distance problem you have been dealing with.""And the scholarship review," I said."Your scholarship wants something the university recognises directly, on their own books," s

Avery's POVThe first week at the new job settled into an easy rhythm, and for a few days that was the only thing on my mind. I learned the calendar, learned Denise's preferences for tone, learned which posts got engagement and which ones sat there quietly ignored. It felt good to be learning something new that had nothing to do with survival for once.Owen, another staff member, showed me how to schedule posts in advance. He was sitting close enough that I could see his screen, walking me through the same steps twice without making me feel foolish for needing them repeated."You will get faster," he said. "Everyone does after the first couple of weeks.""I hope so," I said. "Right now everything takes twice as long as it should.""That is normal," he said. "Denise still remembers her first month here. She talks about it sometimes, mostly to make new people feel better."Then my mom mentioned something that nearly stole my joy again."There was a car parked across the street last nigh

Avery's POVI had spent the morning at the athletics office, drafting posts for the weekend fixtures, and I came home with my mind still half on a caption I had not quite finished, thinking about word choice rather than anything else, the ordinary kind of distraction that came from a good day rather than a bad one.It was the best kind of morning I had had in months. The job was good. The work was straightforward. I was useful in a way that did not cost me anything to be useful, and I had walked home in the early afternoon feeling something close to normal for the first time in longer than I could name.The doorbell rang while I was still taking my shoes off.He was standing at the door when I opened it, closer than any of the warnings had prepared me for, and my whole body went cold before my brain had finished registering it was actually him. I had not checked the peephole. I had just opened the door the way I always did, distracted, thinking about something else entirely, and there

Avery's POVAs soon as we got to the kitchen, we turned around and went back to the living room.We locked the door immediately, all three of us moving on instinct. My mum checked the latch twice, then a third time, her hands not quite steady enough to trust the first check. Liam stood at the window watching the empty street like Dean might reappear if he looked away for even a second.I sat down on a chair because my legs did not feel entirely trustworthy anymore. I put my head in my hands, waiting for the shaking to settle, which it did not."He is still out there," Liam said. "Somewhere. He likely did not go far. I do not think a man in that state just walks away and calms down on his own.""I know," my mom said. "We need to call the police.""He's gone anyway. I don't think we need to just yet," Liam said. "Maybe I should call my dad. He's just around the corner. The police could take longer than that, and I do not want us sitting here alone if Dean comes back before anyone arrive