Page 97 of Unwritten Rules (Rules 1)

Even if they weren’t real.

“I thought you were smarter than this,” he says quietly.

I can’t bring myself to apologize, wondering what I could possibly say that I haven’t already. Instead, I whisper the three words that sum up the way I feel better than an entire novel ever could.

“So do I.”

“IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME,” I HEAR Will say when we walk inside the house. I follow Blake into the living room where all the guys are. Except for one.

“Where’s Kendrick?” I ask.

“He’s upstairs, training. He’ll call us when he’s ready,” Alex says.

I immediately notice Will has a cut on his lower lip. It’s fresh, recent.

“Will, are you okay?”

“Do I look like I’m not?” He chuckles.

“Why is your lip bleeding?”

“Kendrick’s been training, we told you.”

They can’t be serious.

“What the hell? You guys train on each other?”

“Usually not, but Kendrick stopped training during his recovery, so he’s scared that he lost it.” Will shrugs, changing the channels with the remote.

My wandering gaze shifts to Alex and Blake. They seem unbothered by Will’s statement. Like it’s a normal thing for them to beat each other up.

“So basically Kendrick punched you in the face and you’re okay with it?”

“Of course I am. I’m the one who volunteered.”

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I’ll never understand men.

I scoff, sit down on the couch and watch Will change the channels continuously. Alex quickly gets sick of it and decides he’s going to take the remote away from him. Will wants to keep it, which results in Alex quite literally lying on top of him to steal it. I’m laughing at their imbecility when their bickering is interrupted by a knock on the door.

“I got it,” Will says, bringing the remote with him to annoy Alex, who rolls his eyes. As soon as he opens it, someone pushes past him. We’re all equally astounded to see her.

“Where is he?” she shouts.

“Nicole, what are you doing here?” Will asks.

“His car’s outside. I know he’s here.” She opens every door frantically.

Alex gives in, probably terrified that she’ll break something in his parents’ flawless home. “He’s upstairs.”

When she thumps up the stairs loudly, I assume she’s been here before, probably back when they were still together.

“Kendrick Kingston!” she shouts at the top of her lungs. The guys and I share a look. We don’t need to talk. We’re thinking the same thing. We quickly gather at the bottom of the stairs to listen.

“Nicole, w-what are you doing here?” Kendrick babbles.

“Don’t you dare pretend that you don’t know. How could you do this to me?”

“I really had to go. I’m sorry…”