Page 11 of Let You Love Me

There’s no fucking way this girl is single.

She snorts out a laugh, and it’s the cutest fucking sound I’ve ever heard.

“No girlfriend, either. I’m . . . it’s . . . my life is complicated.”

I cross my arms over my chest and offer her a grin. “I can do complicated.”

She stares at me like she’s never seen a human before. Like she landed on Mars and doesn’t know what to make of me.

She opens her mouth and closes it a couple times, then asks, “But . . . why?”

“You ask that question a lot.” I grin and step forward, and though I know I should keep my hands to myself, I just can’t seem to help myself as I reach out and tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Complications make life interesting. Simplicity is boring. And let’s just say, I know myself well enough to know I’ll be thinking about a certain redhead long after I leave this park.”

“Oh,” she breathes.

I cock my head, watching the emotions play over her face—surprise, flattery, confusion—while marveling at the obvious fact that this girl isn’t used to such blatant admiration, which, quite honestly, is fucking mind-boggling. She should be. Every hot-blooded male in this park should be chasing after her.

“Yeah,oh,” I say, and when her eyes soften, I know I’ve won.

A second later, she’s rattling off her phone number while I punch it in my phone, then walk away feeling like at least one thing in the last twenty-four hours has gone my way.

After a shower to wash the run off me, I change and sink down onto my bed. I can hear Tommy in his bedroom talking to someone on the phone. The dude has proven to be a good roommate, all things considered, but I’ve quickly discovered he’s loud as fuck. If I weren’t convinced Chance had set us up to get caught Saturday night, I’d peg us getting busted on Tommy. No matter where he is, his voice carries. I could be standing right beside him or three hundred yards away and the dude would burst an eardrum.

I click open my texts and find the group chat, the one where I sent my buddies the link to the article about Knox and scroll through their reactions, which are essentially a mirror of my own.

To know someone feels the same way I do helps ease the sting of injustice a little bit. I guess there’s comfort in numbers, and the kind of friendship I have with them can’t be replaced. Though I get along just fine with my new teammates, I don’t see myself getting close to any of them. Blame it on Knox’s betrayal and my inability to trust new friendships. Either way, I can’t seem to get past the fact the fucker lied to my face for years.

I trusted that asshole with my life, and he broke that trust.

Ever since, I’ve found myself putting space between me and my new teammates. I’m a little less forthcoming, a little less friendly.

If Knox could completely blindside me, I don’t want to see what a mere acquaintance, someone who hasn’t earned my trust, can do.

It fucking plagues me all the time.

I think about it when I wake and when I go to sleep at night, like a bad dream I can’t shake.

Only two months have passed since the revelation, and I find myself constantly questioning the new people in my life. Trust is something I don’t feel equipped to give. Doubt is my instant reaction to most anything.

Maybe with time, I’ll adjust. Maybe now that Knox is paying for what he did, I can move on. But for now, my go-to for advice and an open ear is and always will be my boys from Riverside. Each and every one of them had been just as shocked and hurt as I was when we discovered the truth about Knox, especially Jace since he’s in love with my sister.

Next to me, Knox was always the sensible one of our group, the most rational and even-keeled, so his betrayal came as an even bigger shock.

My mood shifts. I need to get my mind off him.

I can’t go down that rabbit hole, not today. Not when I’m already stressed as fuck.

I shove the thought aside as my fingers fly over the keyboard, in need of an ear.

Me:

Pretty sure I'm fucked.

Jace:

In the head?

Graham: