Page 85 of Yours To Hold
“It’s not like I’m sticking around.”
Gemma rears back like I slapped her. “That’s right. You’re too good for Dixon.”
“You know that’s not what I meant.” I scrub a hand down my face. This is getting us nowhere.
“You’re just fooling around then with my brother and saying ‘see ya’ at the end of the summer?”
“Gemma…”
“Am I wrong, Ivy? You’re leaving in a few weeks. You said so yourself.”
I hate that she’s right. I’ll never tell her that in this moment, but she is. This thing with Mason was never supposed to be serious. Just a way for the two of us to blow off steam this summer. A fling. Feelings weren’t supposed to get involved. It makes it messy.
Telling family and friends—especially this friend—makes it even messier.
We wanted good, clean fun.
Now it’s anything but fun.
I thought we had a few more weeks together. Now, it’s done. Over. Over before we really had a chance to get started.
“No. I’m still going to Seattle.”
Gemma shakes her head at me. In all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her this upset with me. Sure, we had the occasional stupid fight over silly things in high school. But the anger coming off her now is something I’ve never felt.
“So you’re leaving and that’s that.”
The sadness in her voice hits me square in the chest. Now I don’t know if she’s mad at me for leaving or for the whole thing with Mason.
“Can we talk about this when you’re not upset?” I plead. Standing in the middle of the hospital parking lot isn’t the best place for this.
“Blake and I are leaving for LA tomorrow and we’ll be back next week.” She tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Next week. When I’ll be in Seattle starting my new job.
I pull Gemma into a hug. “Go be with Willow. Don’t be mad at Mason. I’ll see you when I see you.”
“Fine.”
She stalks off into the hospital without a look back.
Fuck.
I stab a hand through my hair and head to my car. My phone buzzes in my pocket.
Mason
Are you okay?
I punch out a response.
I’ll be fine. Tell Willow I’m thinking of her
I doubt he’ll believe me. But what else is there to say?
I fell in love with my best friend’s brother when it was supposed to be a fling and ended up hurting my best friend.
And breaking my own heart in the process.
