A Guide to Being Just Friends(95)

Something painful stabbed Hailey’s chest. She nodded. “Liked. Not loved.”

Tara made a nurturing sound that must have been the secret code to all of Hailey’s emotions because they unraveled in an instant. She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to contain it, to stop it, but the sob escaped.

“Oh, sweetie.” Tara hurried around the table, wrapping her arms around Hailey, murmuring softly, encouraging her to cry if she needed, that everything would be okay.

But she was wrong. Nothing would be okay. She’d lost more than a lover, a confidant, a boyfriend. She’d lost her friend. The person who made her laugh, who teased her about forgetting to set alarms and didn’t mind being teased about the overabundance of the ones he had set. A person who in so little time had come to know her well enough to complete her sentences, see the best in her, and make her believe anything was possible. Just not love.





41


Wes ran his hand over his face, frowning at the rasping sound that followed. When was the last time he shaved? He pulled open the door to let both of his brothers into his apartment. They said nothing as they shuffled past him in suits.

Instead of joining them in the living room, he went to the coffee maker.

“Wes,” Chris said.

Wes turned from making coffee. “What?”

“We had a meeting. You flaked. What the hell?” Noah said.

His brows scrunched closer as he tried to remember his schedule for the week. His brain felt a little fuzzy. Glancing at the counter, he was surprised to see his couple of beers had turned into seven empties. Apparently, he’d had a pity party for one last night.

“Sorry.” He went back to making coffee.

“Sorry? That’s it?” Chris’s voice held no judgment and he appreciated his brother that much more for it.

“Blink twice if your body has been invaded by aliens,” Noah said, coming around to get his face in Wes’s.

Wes’s lips quirked even as a steady, uncomfortable bass began to beat at the base of his neck. “Remind me about the meeting.”

“It was a board meeting. For the rec center. When was the last time you forgot anything? What’s going on?” Chris flanked the other side of him.

“I guess I had more beer than I thought. I must have slept through my alarm.” He glanced around after pressing start on the coffee maker. “I’m not sure where my phone is.”

His brothers followed him into the living room. His laptop sat open on the game he’d made for Hailey. He’d worked through every single combination last night. All roads led to her. Jesus. What a fool he was. He started to close the laptop.

“Wait, what is that?” Noah, being Noah, picked it up without permission.

Wes’s gut turned in a way that had nothing to do with his hangover.

Chris sat beside Noah, forcing Wes to move down on his own couch. They pressed start and worked through the game. Wes waited, the muscles in his shoulders pulled tight.

“This is awesome,” Noah said, laughing with genuine joy. He looked over at Wes. “Pretty basic, but it’s fantastic. Did Hailey love it?”

He nodded. And him. She loved him. Or thought she did. That’s what happened: people confused affection and their desire to not be alone with a word that had deadly potential to wreck lives.

“Can you expand on this? Could you create something more complex? Different levels? More players? Could you do something like add another character into the mix—almost like a bad guy?”

Wes ran both hands over his face then stared at Noah. “Yes. To all of your questions. But I’m not going to. It was just a stupid gesture that, in the end, wasn’t worth my time.” It was good that they’d parted ways. Better now than years from now when she was dropping hints with wedding magazines.

Noah pressed some buttons that made a sound Wes didn’t recognize.

“We’ll come back to that, but first tell me if you’ve made other games and if these graphics are yours,” Chris said, taking the laptop from Noah.

Wes looked over, frowning. Had he added to the code last night? He didn’t remember. “Wait, why are there two different paths?”

Chris glanced at him. “You created it, dude.”

Wes took the computer. Now, instead of just Hailey being the end goal, there was a miniature Wes character in the right corner. Clicking the keys, Wes unlocked the path that led to him on his own. Shit. He must have included that. See? Even drunk, he knew he was better off taking a road that led to him being alone. When he got through the maze, the little version of himself jumped up and down with a speech bubble over his head reading, “You are alone.” His stomach sank. The character’s cheesy smile crumpled as he then crumpled onto the ground with another speech bubble popping up. It read, “For the rest of your life.”

“Damn. That’s dark, man.” Chris shook his head.

“What did Hailey say to that part?” Noah’s voice was strained, his face scrunched.

Wes swore. “That part wasn’t there when she saw it. I must have added it last night.”

Getting up, Wes went back to the kitchen. He needed a shower. He definitely needed to shave. It had been a few days; why didn’t he feel more like himself? Why the hell had he added that dark option for his game? Not wanting the answers to his own questions, he shook his head, as if that could clear the cobwebs.