“Then why did you? You ripped her heart open after you left.”
He turned to face me, but had his head down. “She scares me, Summer. Lara isn’t the type of girl to take shit off of anyone. I just saved her the trouble of hating me down the road. I fuck everything up, and I sure as hell would’ve messed up with her.”
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“No, but it’s inevitable. She’s too good for me.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” His head snapped up, and for a brief second I saw the hurt in his eyes. He tried to hide it, but I caught him. “For whatever reasons you’re pushing her away, make sure you think long and hard on it. She might be heartbroken now, but eventually she will move on. If you have any feelings for her, you might want to let her know before it’s too late.”
He nodded, his smile sad. “I think it’s best for me to stay away from her. I don’t think I can handle hurting her a second time.”
“Neither can she. Unlike me, she tends to hold grudges. It probably wouldn’t work anyway. She’s a little pissed at you right now.” I started for the door and opened it while he stood there clenching his jaw. He still wanted her; I could see it in his eyes. “Are you going to stay here with Evan?”
“Yes, unless you want to take Lindsey’s lead and crawl into bed with him.”
“Not tonight.” I chuckled. “I don’t play that way. And as much as I’ve disliked you for the past few months, thank you for helping me tonight. You’re a good friend to Evan. He’s lucky to have someone like you watching his back.”
He grinned widely. “The same goes for you. Just don’t hate him for getting wasted tonight. I promise he’s a good guy.”
“I know that, Luke. I’ve been around you guys for the last two years. Are you going to tell him what happened?”
Grabbing the remote, he flopped down on the couch and lifted his feet onto the coffee table. “Fuck yeah, I’m going to tell him. I can’t wait to see the look on his face.”
“Just do me a favor, please,” I requested. When he looked back at me, I continued, “If he tries to call me and I don’t answer, tell him not to be alarmed. After everything that’s been going on, I just need a day to myself.”
He straightened, furrowing his brows. “You’re not going to dump him, are you?”
“Dumping him would be implying that we’re actually together. We haven’t discussed any of that. But just so you know, I’m not going anywhere. I like Evan and I want to see him again. All I want is a day to get away.” Sunday was the day I put fresh flowers on Austin’s grave and sat with him. There was a lot weighing on my heart, and I needed to get it out without any distractions. It was going to be hard enough letting Austin go, knowing I was doing it because I was falling for Evan.
Chapter 10
Evan
My head pounded and the sun was shining too fucking bright. I covered my face with a pillow and groaned. Hopefully, Cooper and Derek felt just as bad as I did. My headache only got worse when the sound of Luke’s voice echoed in my room.
“Wakey, wakey,” he said, laughing. “It looks like you had a good time last night.” I threw the pillow at him and sat up. He dodged out of the way, which made the coffee in his cup spill over and burn his hand. “Goddammit,” he hissed.
Snickering, I lay back down. “Remind me never to look at a Jell-O shot for the rest of my life.”
“Don’t worry. I think you’ll watch what you do from now on once I tell you what happened.”
Gut clenching, I quickly sat up and looked around the room. The last thing I remembered were Summer’s words to me. She had thought I was passed out, but I heard everything. Then I saw her at the door before she shut it. Hopefully, I didn’t say something to piss her off.
“Where’s Summer?” I asked, running my hands through my hair. “Is she still here?”
Luke shook his head. “No, she left last night. Why don’t you take a shower, drink a couple cups of coffee, and take some ibuprofen. You’re gonna want to be wide awake for what I have to say.”
I got out of bed and marched up to him. There was no smile on his face. “You better not have pissed her off and made her leave,” I growled.
“If only it were that simple. We actually talked last night and kind of worked things out. She looks so much like Lara, but they’re completely different.”
“She told me what you did to Lara. It was a dick move, my friend.”
Sighing, he nodded and backed toward the door. “I know. Maybe one day she’ll forgive me. Now take a shower and meet me in the kitchen.”
I took a shower as fast as I could and dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a gray T-shirt before strolling into the kitchen. Luke poured me a cup of coffee and had a couple of pills already laid out on the counter for my headache. It was then I noticed that Luke was wearing my clothes.
“Raiding my closet, I see,” I joked.