Page 246 of Tell Me I'm Enough

Something tightens in my chest. Because most of the moments I have like that…have all been with her lately.

Before I can respond, her phone lights up on the nightstand. It stops, and then rings again. And again.

She groans, turning over towards it. “Seriously?” She grabs it, squinting at the screen, and then her expression changes.

“What?” I ask.

“It’s just…Tyler,” she says, annoyed. “He’s been calling from random numbers lately. I block one, and another pops up a day later.”

I clench my jaw, irritated by the sound of his name on her lips.

The phone buzzes again, and without thinking, I reach over and take it from her hand.

“Mason don’t—”

I swipe to answer before she can stop me.

“Simone?” Tyler’s voice comes through, sounding embarrassingly desperate. “Is that you?”

“No,” I say flatly. “It’s not.”

There’s a pause. “Who’s this?”

“Mason.”

Another pause, longer this time, then I hear him huff on the other end. “Of course it is.”

My hand tightens on the phone, annoyed with this prick. “Stop calling her.”

He scoffs. “You don’t get to tell me who I can talk to. And Ineedto talk to her.”

“She’s made it very clear she doesn’t want anything to do with you,” I tell him. “You’re embarrassing yourself.”

“Oh yeah?” he asks, more smug now. “Like you? It’s so obvious that you want her. It’s pathetic. You think someone likeyoueven has a chance with someone like her?”

I smile at that. It’s slow and mean. “Funny. Cause it would appear thatIwas the one she was currently laying with, tucked undermyarm, inmybed, whileyou’rethe one calling her phone a million times. Seems like the only pathetic one here isyou.”

He’s silent after that.

Then I hear laughter in the room. I look over and see Chase sitting up in his bed, awake now. He’s grinning like an idiot, entertained by all of this, and I flip him off from across the room.

“Lose this number,” I tell Tyler. “And the next one. And the one after that.”

I hang up and toss the phone back onto the nightstand.

Simone exhales slowly. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to. Trust me, it was almost more for me.”

She snuggles up closer to me. “Thank you.”

Chase clears his throat dramatically, standing up from his bed. “Romanticandthreatening. Five stars. Proud of my boy.”

I glare over at him. “Fuck off. And put some damn clothes on,” I tell him, covering Simone’s eyes. “You’re walking around here in only your boxers when I have company.”

Simone spreads my fingers open so she can see through them and then smirks. “Yeah…I canseewhy Lydia slept with you.”

I turn, glaring at her, and she just laughs.