Page 157 of Should Our Stars Collide

Her expression falters, unsure. Then she huffs and crosses her arms. “Don’t ‘what the fuck’ me. What was I supposed to think? We were together for almost a year and the whole time it was Dean this, Dean that?—”

“It’s Dawson.”

“—and when he needed something, you’d just drop everything and run, even if we were on a date.”

“Is that why you couldn’t stand him? You thought I had the hots for him?”

Now it makes sense! He always got so angry when Jess talked shit about Dee, thinking it was because she wanted to control him, to get rid of the one and only friend he had—the final straw that made him call it quits between them. But all that time, it was just plain and simple jealousy.

“Can you blame me? Do you know how pathetic it made me feel?”

Shit. Now he feels bad. Jess isn’t so innocent—she had no right to spew shit about someone who didn’t do anything wrong—but Kieran can understand her reasons. He can understand the insecurity. Maybe a little too well.

“I’m starting to,” he says. “But you should at least know it wasn’t like that. Dawson is just…he’s the only person who’s stuck by me for all these years. I’d do anything for him, put him before anyone else.” He gives her a sad but genuine smile. “I’m sorry.”

Jess goes teary-eyed, trying to cover up the emotion with annoyance. “God, you look so pathetic.Fine.Apology accepted. You’re forgiven.” She side-eyes him. “But you’re still into dick, right?”

He snorts. “Apparently. Well, one dick in particular.” Aaand he’s thinking about Ash again. Great.

“So, who is he?”

Everything I didn’t know I needed. That I still need.

“The most annoying person on the planet. Patronizing. Thinks he’s so much better than anyone else.”

“Sounds hot.” She giggles at her own joke, then bumps their shoulders together. “Is he giving you a hard time?”

“Not anymore.” Geez, what a bad pun. Jess’ playfulness is contagious. But it’s better than brooding, he guesses.

“Oooh, I see how it is.” Jess’ voice goes all excited, as if Kieran just handed her some juicy gossip. “How’s the sex? Is he good? Better than me?”

“You two areworldsapart,” is the best he can come up with without his face bursting into flames. So it’s true that girls love talking about this stuff, ugh.

She blinks, then her expression lights up. “Aww, you should’ve told me that you wanted to be pegged. To be fair, when I imagined you with Dean—sorry, Dave—I could never guess which one of you was the catcher. Guess that’s part of why the idea of you two annoyed me so much, you didn’t really seem like a good fit. I don’t mean to say I imagined you two often, but a girl wonders?—”

“I’d like to stop this conversation now.Please.”

And fill my ears with bleach.

Jess’ lower lip sticks out. “You’re no fun.”

“Baby? Baby, where are you?” a male voice calls.

Jess’ whole face lights up. She scrambles to her feet, holding the cups in the air. “Over here, cupcake!”

After throwing up in his mouth a little, Kieran looks up to see a guy who could easily play the Rock’s double if he shaved his head.

He eyes Kieran with distrust. “Friend of yours?”

“An ex.” Jess sips her coffee. “Jerkface, this is Ashton. Ashton, Jerkface.”

“The one who kicked you out of his apartment? Hey, what are you laughing at?” His hands form fists, and he takes a threatening step closer. “Want me to rearrange your face?”

“S-sorry, I’m not laughing at you,” Kieran manages to get out, unsure if he should laugh or cry. Given that the guy could fold him like laundry, he shouldn’t laugh. “Just at the clusterfuck that is my life.” BecauseAshton? Really?

“It’s okay, baby.” Jess pats his chest. “He’s harmless. And karma already caught up with him.”

Yup. She got that one right.