Page 126 of Trust Me

I spun around, cocking my head. Dean’s eyes met mine, his brow furrowing. “Uh, no. I told you we broke up.”

“It was serious, though. Didn’t I tell you to talk through it?”

“It just wasn’t fixable.”

“Most things are fixable, D. You just have to care enough.”

“I think sleeping with someone else goes beyond caring enough,” I noted. There was a coldness in my voice I hadn’t intended, but I couldn’t help it. Just the thought of Sadie and what she’d done to Dean made my blood boil.

Blake looked at me, blinking a few times. After a second, he turned back to his brother. “You didn’t tell me that.”

Dean shrugged. “It wasn’t important. I’m gonna grab a coffee.”

Without looking at either of us, he walked out of the room. I ground my teeth together as I passed Blake. I felt his gaze, but I didn’t bother to acknowledge him.

When I caught up to Dean, I gripped his fingers to let him know I was there. I expected him to brush me off, but he squeezed my hand hard.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t realize he didn’t know.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. Maybe we need to talk about all of this. I don’t want to make more mistakes and stumble over my words. It feels uncomfortable.”

“Oli, really. It’s okay.” He squeezed my hand again before he pulled it back. “It was right before Christmas. I was supposed to bring her home to meet my family. They were super excited cause I’d never been with someone that long, and I’d been talking about her for a while. My mom even got her a gift.”

I glanced at him, noting the tightness around his mouth.

Turning my nose up, I led him into the cafeteria. “If lobotomies were still commonplace, I’d recommend her for one.”

He burst into laughter, his smile making my heart flutter. “That’s a bit extreme.”

“Cheaters are scum. Who could know you and still do something like that?” I shook my head hard, unwilling to back down. “Lobotomies all around.”

“For Brooks too?”

I tilted my head as I thought about it. “He didn’t know, right? Then he gets a pass, but just this once.”

Taking my hand again, he kissed me quickly. His cheeks pinked a little, but he turned away to grab a cup before I could really enjoy it. The coffee smelled burnt, and it was impossible not to wrinkle my nose.

“Are you sure you want that?” I asked. “I’m more worried about you catching something from it than the sick people.”

“I’ll be fine. My mom lived off this for twenty years and she’s healthy as a horse.”

“Good genes, then.”

“New Yorkers are better than Californians any day.” He winked at me as he poured creamer into his cup.

“I have no good memories there, so I can’t argue.”

He frowned as he brought the cup to his lips to take a drink. “None?”

“Outside of meeting Remi, no. Even then, we were in a terrible house, so . . .” I shrugged. “There’s nothing remarkable about my past, so I like to say my life started when I moved to Washington. Pretty boring, I know.”

“Guess we’ll make a bunch of memories here.” He smiled, and it was almost possible to forget that we were in a hospital.

We headed back to the room, which was now empty aside from his dad.

“Mom headed home to grab new clothes,” Dean said, looking down at his phone. “She hasn’t left since coming here.”