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He looked at me with a hesitant face from his seat on the bench, and I knew he was trying to gauge if Duke and I just had a good time or horrible time in his car.
“How did it–”
I felt my face crack and quickly covered it up with my hands. Tyler was up in a second, wrapping me in a warm, bear hug.
He rested his chin on the top of my head. “Dang. I really thought I was helping you guys and maybe tonight would be your night. I’m sorry, Claire.”
A split second later, the entrance door was ripped open. Duke was standing there, fuming. I watched him take in the picture of Tyler hugging me.
He let out a disgusted grunt, then moved past us.
“Shoot. I’m sorry,” Tyler murmured when he was gone.
I shook my head and swallowed the burning lump in my throat. “Not your fault he’s too stupid to realize you’re just being a nice friend.”
He squeezed my hand. “I like that.”
I looked up at his dark eyes in question.
“I’d like to be your friend, Claire. I’m sorry I was such a dick as a kid,” he said with a cringe. “That is one major regret that I have.”
I let out a pathetic laugh and patted his chest. “You are forgiven, sir. Walk me home?”
I was done with Bullfrogs for the night, maybe even for the rest of summer if Duke was going to be around the whole time. It would hurt too badly to see him with a different girl every Friday night.
Tyler held out his elbow for me to take.
“What a gentleman,” I said, to which he gave me a bright grin.
I quickly wiped my eyes and sniffled and then we were off.
We walked in comfortable silence across the parking lot and made our way to the golf course. There was no point in walking around the golf course at night seeing as no one would be playing.
“In my defense,” Tyler said as we walked through the dewy grass, “we never meant to hurt you. You were just collateral damage back in the day– which I am sorry for,” he quickly added. “But really, everything we did was just to get a rise out of Callahan.”
I sat there in thought for a second. “So, that condom Reggie put on my desk in tenth grade biology class?” The whole class was snickering behind my back, and I was mortified. I had no clue what a condom even was at the time, and I had to ask Addie about it after school. I should’ve never gotten so mixed up with those hockey boys.
Tyler laughed out loud and rubbed a hand through his hair. “Damn. I forgot about that one. Yeah, we dared Reggie to do it just to see what Duke would do. He was so fun to mess with. He really was a ball of hate.”
I gave him a resigned look. “He was suspended because of that and his parents almost made him miss the state playoffs.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t think he’d go as far as tackling Reggie in the middle of class. Thought he’d be a bit smarter about not getting caught. Poor Reggie,” he said with a laugh.
“Poor Reggie?” I asked incredulously. “Poor me! That was harassment. You guys were assholes.”
He put his hands up in innocence. “You’re very right. But…”
I gave him a stern look. There was no excuse for their obnoxious behavior.
“Weren’t you doing something similar tonight? Trying to get a reaction from Callahan?” he challenged.
I took in a deep breath and shook my head. “You’re no fun.”
He snorted. “Yes, I am, hun.”
15.Duke
I was stuck at the bar until close because Reggie was hitting it off with a girl and I couldn’t exactly make him drop everything to drive my sorry ass home. So, I sat there stewing in my own misery and ordering beer after beer until the bartender shouted out last call.
