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Rex stands, brushing grass from his shorts, and holds out a hand for me. “My apartment then. Come on.”
I know his interrogation—and opinions—aren’t done but going back to my dorm right now isn’t something I’ll consider.
Our height difference is magnified when he attempts to drop his arm over my shoulder before hooking his arm in mine.
“You know what I hate about this town?”
I look over at my friend, raising an eyebrow.
“No food delivery. If we had Uber Eats or DoorDash, we’d have it made. I was serious about the donuts. I’m starving. They have strawberries and cream right now.” He makes a moaning noise that brings a smile to my face. “I could eat a hundred of them.”
“I’ll have to try them sometime,” I say, grateful he isn’t pushing the issue too hard.
He doesn’t, and that is a clear sign that the man knows just how upset I am right now. He’s a give me what I want when I want it kind of guy. He’s bratty and spoiled and has a way about him that makes people just give in more often than not because he gets whiney.
The walk to his apartment is quick, the small complex he lives at being just off campus.
“Maybe we have brownie mix,” he says, heading straight to the kitchen when we walk in, leaving me to close the door behind us.
I drop to the couch, a sigh escaping my lips.
I’d rather be alone. Self-pity and wallowing are difficult with Rex singing in the kitchen like he’s auditioning for Broadway.
A loud knock, aggressive and rough, echoes through the apartment, but I can’t take the risk of running into Landon. I’d like to think the man is feeling all sorts of regret right now, but he’s probably either at the gym working out or trying to sleep off his hangover from last night.
“Think it’s someone with donuts?” Rex asks with a grin as he makes his way to answer it.
I shake my head, smiling at his ridiculousness as I drop my head into my hands. “Unlikely.”
“Are you kidding me?”
I snap my head up to see Landon shoving past Rex into the apartment.
His eyes scan me as if he’s trying to figure out what I was doing seconds before he rushed in here.
Tilting my head to the side, I do my best to seem dismissive, but my heart is pounding, my hands starting to tremble. I shove them under my thighs, but it doesn’t help.
Landon steps deeper into the room, not even acknowledging Rex’s, “Rude much?”
As he draws closer, I have to stand. Landon isn’t prone to violence, but at the same time, I don’t want to be caught off guard if he’s going to change that about himself today.
He opens his mouth twice, closing it with a snap both times.
And then the unthinkable happens. Instead of focusing his anger on me, he spins around on Rex.
My friend scrunches his nose up, standing his ground.
“He’s fucking mine,” Landon snaps, his finger jabbing at his own chest. “You’re ruining what we have.”
I should probably grab Landon and tell him to leave, but his words make me freeze.
His?
Rex is attempting to look irritated and unaffected, but I see the twitch of his upper lip. Either he’s about ready to pounce on Landon for all the injustices he feels I’ve suffered, or he’s trying not to smile.
“What you have?” Rex asks. “You mean you using him?”
Landon turns to look at me, his throat working on a swallow, and I hate that my eyes drop there. I hate that fucking neck of his, and how safe I allowed myself to feel when my nose was pressed to it.
“I didn’t say a word about us,” I mutter.
“You didn’t have to,” Rex interjects. “It’s written all over your face. He hurt you.”
I keep my eyes on Landon, not exactly mad that he’s here making such demands. I should be strong enough to tell him to get lost, but although he’s going about this the wrong way, he’s also saying things I’ve always wanted to hear spill from his lips.
“You have to choose,” he says, his tone broken and sad.
Well, that’s the fucking wrong thing to say.
“It’s not fair of you,” Landon says, his voice gaining strength. “I won’t be in limbo, and you can’t just expect me to suddenly scream and confess that I’m bi and in love with a man.”
I scrape my hands over the top of my head because there’s just too much in his statement to unpack all at once.
“Yet here you are,” Rex says. “Doing exactly that. I have neighbors. Can you keep it down?”
Landon shakes his head, but I don’t know if it’s at Rex’s statement or because I’ve yet to respond to his demands.
“He doesn’t know you like I do. Do I have to ask again?” Sadness fills his eyes. “Do I need to beg? I’ll do it. Please, Rick. Please pick me over him.”
