Page 150 of Tell Me I'm Enough

“So you decided to come bother me? Or was there another Gamma girl you were searching for in here?”

“I’m always only looking for you, pretty girl.”

I ignore the way that makes me feel and snatch my towel back from him. “Would you like me to come help and keep you company?” I throw the towel near the sink. “I just finished up my list.”

I can see the genuine happiness in his eyes, and it pulls a smirk from me.

He holds his hand out, and I look at it and then back up to him, shaking my head. I take it, and he spins me in the kitchen, dipping me, making me squeal a little because I wasn’t expecting it. He just holds me there, locking his eyes on mine.

It’s moments like these that I don’t understand this thing with him. Yes, we’re friends; we always have been, and it’s always been platonic. He’s always respected my boundaries, especially when I was still with Tyler. But that look, the one he’s giving me right now…it’s not the same one he used to give me. Or is it, and I just never noticed it the way I’m noticing it now?

He has plenty of friends, but he doesn’t treat any of them like he treats me. I’m kinda protective of that. I don’t want to share his attention.

This is all so fucking confusing.

My head is so screwed up from Tyler that I’m reading into dumb things I didn’t before and feeling things I hadn’t before.

Dumb…dumb things.

“Let’s go have some fun cleaning those gutters,” he says, grinning, still holding my gaze.

He tips me back up and guides me out of the house with his hand on the small of my back. I don’t think he even notices himself doing it.

When we walk out of the house, the lawn is full of kids, mostly just fucking around, finding anything to do besides their tasks.

I almost don’t see him at first, but when a couple of the girls go from picking up litter in the yard to sitting down on the grass—I lock eyes with a face I recognize—one that shouldn’t be here.

Tyler.

What the hell is going on?

How?

What?

Huh?

Mason stops beside me, stiffening when he sees who I see.

Tyler just stares straight ahead, eyes locked on mine—full of remorse and hurt.

I shake my head.

This can’t be real.

He’s notactuallyhere.

I feel Mason’s hand on my shoulder and look over at him, pleading with my eyes for him to tell me what I should do.

“Do you need me?” he asks, genuinely concerned, but I can hear the hint of anger under it.

I swallow, trying to clear my head and remember how to speak. “I—I um…I don’t know.”

He looks over to Tyler for a long second and then back to me. “If you need to talk to him, talk to him. I’ll be right over here. And if you need him to fuck off, just give me the signal.”

I nod, unable to respond, eyes back on Tyler.

Everything suddenly hurts—my head, my heart, my lungs from trying to breathe when I feel like I can’t.