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He waited for a rejection, but when there wasn’t one, he continued. “I can’t sleep, I can’t focus, I can’t even look at certain things without my heart breaking.”
He expected her to pull away, but when she stayed in place his resolve and hope grew. He blinked rapidly, and her eyes flicked between his.
“It’s all your fault, you know? It’s you, Tully. I’m going crazy without you and I can’t,” his voice broke for a second. He shook his head and exhaled an unbelieving laugh. “I can’t be the only one who feels like this.”
Anyone who didn’t know her better would’ve seen her straight face and immediately assumed disinterest. But he’d finally deciphered her.
He saw how, despite her mouth being open, no puffs of breath materialized into the air. He saw the way her hands clenched the way they did when she was nervous. He saw that, in her eyes, there was the same glimmer of hope that was in his.
“But it was fake. Nothing was real between us. You must . . . you’re confused,” she breathed.
“No. I’m not. Not anymore. I don’t for how long, but it’s real. It’s real for you too, isn’t it?”
His hands itched to grab hers. But he stayed put on the first step, a foot away and looking up at her.
Her eyes sparkled, and her mouth opened, then closed. He waited, searching her face for the answer she couldn’t form yet. He knew that whatever she would say, he would like. He could feel it. He could see it as clearly as he could see her.
There was a click and slide behind Tully, and they both were startled out of their stupor to turn as the front door opened.
Tully’s siblings stood there. Eugene looked shocked, his arm on Joliet’s like he was holding her back.
But Joliet didn’t look shocked. She looked giddy. The smile on her lips was anything but kind, and she glanced between the two of them.
“All fake, huh?” she said, settling a wicked gaze on Tully. “Now isn’t that interesting?”
fifty-seven
tully
Blood drained from her face.
Between Nathan’s confession followed harshly by their charade simultaneously tumbling down around them, Tully went light-headed, kind of like she was half awake. Her hands clenched around Nathan’s gift, while her tongue picked up the slack.
“I can explain.”
“Oh, I don’t think there’s much to explain,” Joliet shook Eugene’s hand off her and stepped down until she was right in front of Tully. Nathan, who had been on the middle step, was quickly next to her. Not quite in front of her, but standing there like he was ready to be if needed. “God, now it makes so much more sense. It’s fake.”
“Typical that that would be the only thing you heard out of that entire conversation,” Nathan snapped, his voice harsher than Tully had ever heard it.
Joliet finally looked at him, her eyes flashing with a mix of rage, delight, and annoyance. “It was the only thing I needed to hear.”
“You’re unbelievable—” he started. Tully grabbed his arm and he stopped. He looked down at her, and Tully swallowed before looking at him.
“You should go home,” she said.
Nathan blanched. “No, Ishouldn’t. It’s my fault you’re in this mess.”
It didn’t matter whose fault it was. What mattered was that things were going to get far messier and she couldn’t bear the thought of him witnessing. It was not going to be pretty. Not once her parents overheard.
“Please, just go,” she said, eyeing Joliet carefully like she was a leopard that might pounce. He looked at her, ready to protest, but he must have seen something in her face that made him stop. He sighed.
“Call me if you need me.” She could sense his reluctance as he backed off the steps, staring at her like he was waiting for her to change her mind last second. But she wouldn’t.
Tully kept firm and as he got into his car. She grabbed her blanket, mug, and present and walked inside with Joliet on her heels. Eugene was there as well, closing the door once they all piled into the small entry hallway, but he still seemed too stunned to speak.
“Oh, this is just too good. Are you really that desperate for attention?” Joliet laughed high-pitched, more of a cackle. Too happy when Tully felt like things were starting to collapse around her. “You’re a jealous bitch and you always have been. You’re so jealous you had to force Nathan to fake it with you just to get people to think you were worth anything.”
“Takes one to know one,” Eugene finally spoke up, his eyes narrowed at Joliet.
