Page 145 of Tell Me I'm Enough

“Mhm.” She smiles at me like I’m full of shit. I really wish she knew I wasn’t.

“Would it make you look at me differently if you knew—”

I hear my phone buzzing somewhere and look around for it. I see the soft glow of the screen right behind where Simone is leaning back at.

I lean forward, reaching for it.

Simone turns her head slightly, and our faces are inches apart. I can’t help but keep my eyes locked on hers as I feel for my phone and grab it.

I don’t move back, not yet. I can’t.

I just stay there—stuck.

Moments like these make it obviously clear to me why it was such a stupid idea to think I could be friends with a girl, let alone one like Simone.

I just want to kiss her, know what her lips taste like, know if she feels the same stupid ass electricity I always feel around her. I want to take her face in my hands and never let another pair of undeserving ones touch her again.

I want a lot of things I shouldn’t, though. BecauseI’mundeserving too.

“If I knew what?” she asks, voice almost a whisper.

I look down at her lips and then back up to her eyes.

Fuck, she’s so perfect.

“If you knew I wasn’t like that—wasn’t some player, far from it actually.”

She thinks about it for a moment, eyes still heavy on mine. There’s something behind them that I really don’t want to get my hopes up over.

She starts laughing and pushes against my chest playfully. “I’d just say you were a liar.”

I lean back. “I’m serious.”

“Yeah, and I’veseriouslyseen you make out with more girls in one night than students in my Intro to Government class.”

“That could just be for show.”

She leans her head against the side of the boat, looking up. “Doubt it. Who’s turning down countless beautiful, willing college girls?”

Me.

“Yeah, who would do such a thing?” I ask sarcastically.

“Not the Sinclair I know,” she teases.

I shake my head. “Come on, we gotta get back.”

* * *

The front door barely shuts behind us before my brothers come barreling down the stairs like they’ve been shot out of cannons.

“MASON!”

I don’t even have time to brace before Asher slams into me, arms wrapping around my waist, followed immediately by Easton, who jumps and nearly takes me out at the knees.

“Hey—hey—easy,” I laugh, steadying myself. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Asher pulls back just enough to see Simone behind me.