Page 74 of Broken Boundaries

“Wanna do the Ferris wheel?” Dawson asks me.

No. “Sure.”

“We’re gonna go get some food,” Harper announces, taking Brooks along with her. He doesn’t say anything as they leave us, but I wish he would stay. I wish he were the one taking me on the Ferris wheel.

I link my arm with Dawson’s as we head toward the Ferris wheel. I really hate these things. Who wants to be stuck in a swinging bucket that high up off the ground? Not me. But I do it anyway because I know it will make Dawson happy, and unfortunately for me, I’m a people pleaser.

When we get to the top, Dawson leans in to kiss me. It’s not the first time we’ve kissed. I was hoping it would get better with time, but I still feel absolutely nothing when his lips touch mine.

And I know it’s because I’m kissing the wrong man.

CHAPTER 27

Brooks

She kissed him. I saw it with my own two eyes, and it knocked the wind right out of me.

I let it ruin my entire mood until Harper finally gives up and says we can leave. I feel shitty about the way I acted, but I couldn’t stay there and watch Aspen kiss someone else all night. Even when I tried to focus on something else, my eyes were always searching for her curly head of hair, wondering what she was doing.

It’s pathetic, really.

Even after I got home, I sat inside by the window so I could keep an eye out for when she got home. I could say I just wanted to make sure she got home ok, but really I wanted to make sure she actually came home and didn’t stay the night with him.

I didn’t go to bed until I knew she was home. Which was late.

So now I’m in my office in a shitty mood while I work through a pile of emails I’ve been avoiding for the past week. I keep getting Aspen’s friendly yet pushy emails—Following up on this or Please respond at your earliest convenience.

I can’t respond because all my stupid brain can think of is her.

There’s a knock on my office door.

“Come in.”

Aspen walks in looking nice and refreshed and not pissed off and tired like I am, which only pisses me off even more.

“Morning, Brooks. Here’s your coffee and your jacket from last night. Thank you for letting me borrow it.”

Why does she have to be so nice? And so fucking beautiful?

“No problem. You can just put it there.” I point to the chair, and she lays it down.

“You got home late last night,” I say, sounding like an overbearing father. Can I not just be calm for five seconds?

“I didn’t realize I had a curfew,” she says with a smirk.

“You don’t,” I say quickly. “Of course you don’t. Just noticed you got home late.”

“We all went out for a drink after the fair,” she explains.

“Hmm.”

“Why? Were you worried I went home with someone else?”

Yes. “Nope. You can do whatever you want.”

“That’s right. I can do whatever I want. Because your son broke my heart and you’re well on your way to doing the same.”

Wait. What?