I don’t move, remaining curled under the covers as the door creaks open and he slips inside.
For the first time, my heart doesn’t race at the sight of him.
“It’s over,” I say. My voice is hollow but steady.
Wesley freezes. “What?”
“I don’t want to be another mistake for you,” I say. “It’s better if we end it now.”
His brows knit together, confusion etched in his eyes. “Sadie, what are you talking about?”
“Emmett told me why your dad made the rule.”
He exhales hard, muttering,“Motherfucker.”
“And I saw you with her today.”
His head snaps up. “You came out?”
“It’s over, Wesley.” My voice wavers as I move to sit up, my hands clenching the quilt.
He steps closer. “No—Sadie,listento me. Nothing is going on with her. We hooked upone summer,years ago. We were kids. I haven’t even talked to her since then. Her family just showed up and she was catching me up—telling me about her fiancé, who couldn’t come on the trip. I swear, that’s all it was. You’re it for me. Okay?You’re it.”
I shake my head, my throat closing.
How can I be it for him if he doesn’t love me back? How can he look at me like that,touch me like that, and still not be able to say those three stupid words?
“You lied to me.” My voice is raw and broken. I can barely look at him.
“I didn’t lie,” he says quickly, the muscle in his jaw twitching. “I just…didn’t fully explain.”
I laugh, sharp and bitter. “Are you kidding? Wesley, you were caught having sex with a guest, andthat’sthe reason your dad made the rule. You had so many opportunities to tell me everything, the whole truth, and you didn’t.”
“I was embarrassed. I didn’t want you to think this was anything like that.” He sighs, dragging his hand down his face. “I…I don’t do hookups. I never have.”
I turn to him, swallowing the lump in my throat. “That’s bullshit.”
“It’s not.”
“Emmett has complained nonstop about how you haven’t hooked up all summer, that you desperately needed to get laid so you would stop being so cranky.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him,” he mutters under his breath, running a frustrated hand through his hair. “If I tell you something, can you promise it stays between us?”
I choke on a sob. “I think I’ve proven I can keep a secret, Wesley.”
“I used to do this thing. At Lucky’s, I’d offer to give tourists a ride back to their hotel or Airbnb in town. They were usually girls, and when I came back a few hours later, the guys would come up with their own assumptions and I never corrected them. But I swear to you, I never—ever—hooked up with any of them. I only gave them a ride. Every single time.”
I stare at him. “Every single time?”
He nods. “Every. Single. Time.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I dated a few girls in high school, but nothing too serious. Samira is the last girl I was ever with. We were seventeen and lost our virginities together. We snuck around a few times and one night, her dad caught us. That was it.”
I wrap the quilt tighter around my body, hating how much I want to believe him. “Why did you feel like you couldn’t tell me that?”
“I wanted to,” he says softly, his voice breaking in a way that makes my chest ache. “I just…didn’t know how. I thought if Itold you, you’d see me differently. I didn’t want you to think I was using you. That this didn’t mean something to me.”
