All Chapters of Craving My Best Friend’s Brother: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Taking my helmet off, I push into the locker room and step inside. I pull off my gear, reach for my towel, and wrap it around my waist. The guys are mid-conversation about what they did over the weekend — the same conversation they had yesterday, before and after practice. I get it. I do. But I'm rolling my eyes internally the whole time, wishing I'd actually been there to celebrate with them instead of lying half-conscious in a hospital bed. My phone had buzzed. It had rung too. But I was in the middle of a three-hour blackout and never saw any of it until later. Only Riley knows what really happened to me. Even he doesn't know Daniel was the one who nearly ended my life that night. Only Cort knows that part. Yesterday, when they asked about the bruises — why I hadn't replied, hadn't picked up, hadn't shown up at the party the girls had apparently been expecting me at — I lied. Told them I'd been in a car accident. Not life-threatening, I said. It was. I would be dead right no

I’ve tried not to feel bothered about what happened Tuesday night — River, the text from Sasha, all of it.Instead, I’ve kept my focus on the test happening today.I wave at Cortney as I lock my front door behind me, jog to her car, and slide into the passenger seat. “Did you sleep well?” I ask, reaching for the seatbelt.Cortney groans low, head dropping back against the headrest before she turns to face me. “I know you’re all chill and put-together. You always are during exam season. But me?” She exhales. “I’m struggling.”I roll my eyes internally as she keeps talking, her voice fading into background noise. She does this every single test, or exam period. I ask how she slept, and somehow it spirals into a whole monologue.As for me? I’m not bothered. If anything, I love this period. It’s a reminder that in two more terms, I’m out of this school. For good. No hot-or-smash lists. No Sasha Mackline. Nothing left to bully me or pick me apart. Just my own world, finally university, som

I’m still.Shocked.Confused.His body is close to mine — one hand at my waist, the other cradling the back of my head, his lips on mine. My eyes stay wide open. My heart has stopped beating entirely. No thoughts. No words. Just the warmth of him and the complete inability to process any of it.His tongue parts my lips and deepens the kiss and I feel it, all of it, but I’m so deep in shock that I can’t move. Can’t respond. River Dawson is an absolutely devastating kisser and my body just…My senses suddenly comes to me.This is wrong.Wait. Did I hear him correctly before he kissed me? He said he missed me. He called me by my full name. But we said professional. I said professional. I am his tutor and if this keeps happening, teaching him is going to become impossible.I push him back gently.My breathing returns all at once — uneven, shallow, too loud for the small room. We stand there in the dusty silence, eyes searching each other like we’re both looking for answers to questions we

***~~~RIVER~~~***What was I thinking?And why the hell did I say that — my body moved on its own?Geez, River.I’m sitting on the same table I had her pressed against when I kissed her. And the truth is, I think I actually wanted to do it. Kiss her. But was it because I was genuinely excited about how well the exam questions lined up with what we’d studied? Or was it something else entirely?Honestly? I don’t know. I can’t figure out what’s happening inside my own head right now. And the worst part is I think I confused her. Which means I’ve made things complicated. Again.She wanted professional. She said it clearly, more than once. Professional, River, we are professionals, and I pulled her into a storage room and kissed her like that conversation never happened. Like none of it mattered.And she still wants to tutor me. Like the kiss didn’t happen at all.I groan and drag both hands through my perfectly placed hair, ruining it completely.Well. The tests are done. I have a good

***~~~CHANCÉ~~~***My eyes are wide open as I stare at the picture Cortney shoves in my face.With every fiber of my being, I hold my tears in, clenching my jaw, swallowing hard, so she won't ask questions. So she won't see how much this is destroying me.My heart is pounding fast. Hurting like I've been stabbed—over and over and over.What the hell is this?How could he kiss her?How—I'm as confused as Cortney. Earlier, her scream had shattered the silence after she checked her phone. I went to her. She was frozen, staring at the screen."A—are you sure that's real?" My voice stutters. I'm trying to confirm—trying to hope—that this is some cruel prank. "Who sent that to you?""Sasha did.""And it's real?" I lean closer, searching the image for any sign of editing. "Not one of the things she does to get under your skin?""Chancé." Cortney's voice is bland. Hollow. "I want to believe it's a prank. But the school logo is on it.""That doesn't mean she couldn't have edited it."She st