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My chest squeezed. I actually felt bad for my best friend.
“Fuck,” I said, not sure I wanted to even believe what I was hearing. “She cheated on you?”
He shrugged. “I guess. I mean, we never made our relationship public knowledge, but I was faithful and she wasn’t so—”
Nash stopped talking and went back to rocking on his feet.
He forced a smile. “I loved her, but she didn’t love me back. It’s okay. We talked this morning, and we’re not going to let it ruin our friendship. It would be too hard on the group.”
Now guilt hit me. Charlie had avoided our group for the last month almost and then showed up last night with some douchebag-looking guy.
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying.”
Nash hit me on the shoulder and said, “Dude, please go get something on. You being in a towel is sort of freaking me the fuck out.”
I laughed and pointed to the kitchen. “Grab a beer. I’ll be out in a second.”
“Dude, it’s not even nine in the morning and you want to drink?”
“Fine, grab something else to drink. I’ll be out in a second.”
Hustling back to my bedroom, I pulled on a pair of jeans and a black long-sleeve T-shirt. The temperatures in Austin were on the chilly side but not too bad for this time of year.
When I returned to the living room, I stopped at the sight of my best friend. He looked like he hadn’t slept all night.
“You okay?” I asked, sitting down next to him.
“Yeah,” he said, making himself sound happier than I knew he really was.
“Looks like we can both be miserable fucks together.”
He let out a slight chuckle. “Listen, you might want to at least text Charlie. I don’t know what all you said to her last night, but it was enough to scare her. One more thing, Tucker, you’ve got to stop with the drinking.”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t feel anything when I drink. No guilt. No pain. No sadness. I’m just numb.”
“Yeah well, you’re going to lose the bar if you keep getting trashed there like you did last night.”
Dropping back, I let my head rest against the sofa while I let out a long groan.
“Fucking hell, why did I let Charleston Monroe back into my life like this?”
Nash chuckled. “Because you never got over her the first damn time she broke your heart.”
“Well, this time I broke her heart because I was stupid. Why the fuck was it so important for her to tell me about the stupid marriage bullshit? I should have told her the moment I found out.”
I felt his eyes on me. “Not to rub it in or anything, but I told you not to do it.”
My eyes closed. “For like the first twenty-four hours, I was seriously out to get her back. Then after we were together and I left her that morning, I felt like shit. I knew I couldn’t do it, but I also couldn’t tell her. I planned on telling her that weekend, although I was pretty damn sure she was going to tell me first. Then all shit hit the fan with my dad and …”
I trailed off; the mention of my father’s name made me feel sick. I could still hear those last words I said to him.
“You’re a dirty rotten fucking cheater and I hate you.”
“I told him I hated him. I called him a cheater and the last words I said were ‘I hate you.’”
Nash went rigid next to me.
We sat there for a few minutes, neither of us saying a word.
