23. Donut Holes
Chapter twenty-three
Donut Holes
Chloe
Wandering aimlessly around town did nothing to quell the turmoil wreaking havoc inside me.
I can’t believe I fell for it. For him. Laney called it from day one, but did I listen?
Nope. I let Brody Stirling—Mr. I Have It All—reel me in with his chemical voodoo, and now here I am.
Full-on heartbroken. I’m so fucking stupid.
“In here.” Harper points to her car, holding open the back door.
She responded instantly to the SOS I sent out to both her and Laney. They both dropped everything when I asked for an emergency rant. Now Harper’s come to collect me like a good friend on a rescue mission.
I drag myself into the back seat without a word, feeling like the emotional version of roadkill. Laney’s already in the front, twisting in her seat to give me that oh God, how bad is it? look.
Harper slides in next to me, throws her arm around my shoulders, and sighs. “Oh shit, it’s really bad, isn’t it?” Her face scrunches up, pained for me.
The second she says it, the tears I’ve been holding back finally let loose. That’s it. Full meltdown. Fucking fantastic. The floodgates open, and all I can do is sob like a baby who lost her favorite toy—except my “toy” was a six-foot-two, brooding hottie, and I’m… broken.
My body shakes as I try to get the words out, but it’s mostly babbling. Ugly crying is in full force. Harper and Laney hand me tissues like seasoned pros. I’m a goddamn mess. The kind of mess that only should have known better can make.
Laney, in all her infinite wisdom, decides to speak up.
“Okay, let’s all take a breath and have some donut holes.”
I stop mid-sob and blink at her. “Wh—what?” My eyeballs feel like they’ve swelled up to twice their size.
“Donut holes,” she repeats, dead serious. Harper’s already pulling a box from the glove compartment like it’s The Holy Grail. Of course she had donut holes. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
“Trust me,” Harper says through a mouthful of doughy goodness. “They’re like therapy, but with sugar.”
What the hell. I grab one. It’s soft, warm, and sweet as hell. And holy shit, it actually works. A weird sense of calm spreads through me, like a sugar-coated hug from the universe.
“Oh my God, it works,” I mumble, halfway through another one.
“Have four,” Laney plucks two from the box and pinches them between her fingers, handing them over like she’s offering a cure-all.
I’m so confused. I’m sitting in a puddle of emotional despair, and my best friends in the whole world have become oddly obsessed with donut holes, for some reason.
What the fuck is happening? Not totally sure how to handle this bizarre turn of events, I take one.
It yields easily enough, giving way to its pillowy center as the sweet glaze coats my tongue in a burst of sugary sweetness.
Hints of vanilla and caramel spread out with each chew.
“Holy shit, these are magic,” I exclaim, astonished.
“Like a charm, every time,” Laney says, pleased with herself. “You can thank Grammy Gillespie for the hot tip. Saved my life when I was going through that whole thing with what’s his name, remember?”
“Screw ’em all,” Harper shouts, raising her donut hole like she’s toasting to my new life plan.
Once we’ve calmed down a bit, Harper turns to me, one cheek bulging as she chews. “Okay, but for real... what did he do?”
Where do I start? I take a deep breath and spill everything.
From Amelia’s intervention to the epic sidewalk showdown.
The whole disaster. Not once do either of them butt in with questions or comments.
Not once do I feel the need to start crying again.
The magic of donut holes and best friends, I guess.
By the time I’m finished, I already feel worlds lighter.
“You can say it—I’m a dumbass who deserves everything coming at me.” I can’t bear to look at them, feeling self-pity creeping back in.
Harper pulls me in closer. “You’re not a dumbass. I saw you two together. That wasn’t nothing. Everyone at the festival saw it. They all knew. That’s how obvious it was.”
I want to believe her. I really do. But before I can entertain the idea of hope, Laney jumps in .
“None of that matters.”
Both Harper and I turn to stare at her.
She shifts, climbs up on her knees, curling her arms around the headrest as she comes closer, with her no-bullshit expression. “I’m just saying…”
“What exactly is it that you’re saying?” Harper asks, her tone sharp, almost daring. For once, I’m grateful for the edge in her voice.
Not only because she’s the one telling me what I want to hear, but because that kind of thing is necessary in this situation, and I don’t have the strength to do it.
“It doesn’t matter if Chloe has feelings for him, or if he’s in love with her.”
“Wait, love?” That word drops like a bomb. Brody and love in the same sentence? My brain can’t handle the concept.
“Well, it can’t be love if he’s treating you like this, can it?” Laney says with a shrug, her voice is brutally honest. “Come on, Chloe. You know I’m right.”
“She’s hurting,” Harper says, her eyes clouded with sadness as they meet mine.
Laney looks ready to scream, clearly at a loss for how to make me understand. “Because of Brody. Big shocker—he keeps screwing with her feelings. She heard him say he’s leaving. That there’s no reason to stay in Bluepeak. He’s a dick. It’s not complicated!”
Harper shakes her head, trying to keep calm. “You only think that because of all those articles you dug up about his so-called failed relationships.”
“Failed relationships?” Laney snorts. “You can’t call them relationships when he didn’t bother learning their names.” She rolls her eyes so hard I’m surprised they don’t get stuck.
“Will you two stop?” I lean my body forward between Harper and Laney. “I get it, okay? Brody’s not a saint. I knew that going in. It’s…”
My voice trails off, the weight of everything crashing over me again. Thankfully, they stop bickering long enough for me to breathe.
After a few more seconds of silence, I blurt out, “Look, I know you both mean well, but this isn’t helping me decide what to do. Should I confront him about what I heard? Or do I… leave it, pretend I didn’t hear anything and move on?”
“He’s going to lie to you. You’ll confront him, and he’ll come up with some story to make it all okay. BOOM , you’re back in the same toxic cycle again.”
“ Laney .” Harper’s voice rises in frustration.
“I’m being honest!” Laney shoots back, not backing down. “You don’t want to hear it, but it’s the hard truth. Brody Stirling isn’t the guy who can give Chloe what she needs. He’s never been that guy, and he never will be.”
“But what if he is?” The question bursts out of me before I can stop it, cutting off whatever Harper was about to say. “What if I want it to be him? What if he’s what I want?”
Silence. Laney actually shuts her mouth.
Harper gives a small sigh, her voice quiet but full of understanding. “Then, you do what you need to do.”