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Bryce
I’m still wide awake when Matt comes ambling through the front door at around one in the morning. He kicks off his shoes and promptly goes to the fridge for a beer. He grabs me one while he’s there and flops down on the couch next to me. I grab the remote and mute the show I’ve been watching.
“Do I want to know where you’ve been?” I ask. Matt shakes his head, pops the top from his bottle, and takes a long swig.
“Probably not.”
“Were you with Rowan?”
For a second, I’m sure he’s going to lie. But he doesn’t. Instead, he purses his lips and nods his head, unable to look at me for some reason.
“I had to apologize,” he says. “I’m the one who hurt her the most.”
“We all did,” I tell him, and while I desperately want to ask him if he had sex with her, I resist. It doesn’t really matter, does it? She basically hates us all. “Do you think she’ll hear my apology, too?” I say instead.
“I don’t know, dude. I basically had to break down the door to even get into the house. Dereck sleeping?”
“I guess. After his little meeting with Carly he went upstairs and I haven’t seen him since.”
Matt sighs, finishes off his beer, and then stands up. “He’s got the right idea. I’m fucking exhausted. You good, man?”
“Yeah,” I mutter as Matt turns to climb the stairs to his bedroom. “I’m great.”
Once Matt is gone, I fish my cell phone out of my back pocket and unlock it, wondering if I should text Rowan and see how she is. But I can’t, mainly because I don’t want to think too hard about whether or not Rowan and Matt fucked right before he came home.
With a sigh, I click off the TV and trek up to my own bedroom. I feel emotionally exhausted, like I’ve been fighting a battle I know can’t be won. And as I fall asleep that night, tossing and turning, images of Rowan poison my mind.
There’s no escaping it. There’s no escaping her.
I wakeup early the next morning to hit the gym, and on my way to campus I make a pit stop at the local coffee shop and take a detour to Rowan’s house. Considering it’s early Saturday morning, I assume Rowan will still be sleeping, but I catch a glimpse of her through the kitchen window as I walk up to the front door and knock softly. I don’t see Carly’s vehicle anywhere, but Jamie’s car is there. She must still be asleep.
“Bryce?” Rowan says as she opens the front door. “What are you doing here?” Her gaze falls to the styrofoam lattes I have in each hand.
“Coffee?” I ask, hoping that she doesn’t slam the door in my face.
“Oh … I, um, sure.” Rowan smiles, then steps aside so I can cross the threshold.
Bingo.
“Here.” I hand her one of the caramel macchiatos and take a drink of my own. Rowan grins and cradles the cup between her hands, inhaling the fragrance coming from the slit in the top of the plastic.
“Thank you,” she says. “This is really sweet. I can’t remember the last time someone brought me coffee, just because.”
“Yeah, well, I know you’ve been having a hard time, and …” I trail off, trying to find the right words to say so I don’t mortally offend her and get kicked to the curb.
“Bryce.” She interrupts me before I make a complete fool of myself with a soft smile. “It’s okay. I deserved what you guys did.”
I flinch when she says ‘you guys’, shaking my head. “Row, I didn’t agree with their decision, okay? I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I know. But like I said, I deserved it.”
“No you didn’t.”
“It certainly made me take a long, hard look at how much I’d screwed you all over,” she admits, taking another sip of coffee. “It wasn’t right. You all have every right to be angry with me. So does Carly, for that matter.”
“I’m not angry with you.” I set my own cup down on Rowan’s coffee table and reach out to gently touch her cheek. Her skin burns hot under my fingers, and I have to fight the urge I have to push her up against the wall and kiss her, hard. “We weren’t dating. We weren’t exclusive. You can be with whoever you want.”
“I don’t know what I want, Bryce, and that’s exactly the problem.” Rowan pulls away from me and walks to the kitchen. After a moment, I follow her, and find her sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands.
