Chapter 10
TEN
Why was my mother allowing me to lie in bed with a man in my room? I thought parents were supposed to be against that kind of thing. Wasn’t their daughter’s virtue important to them? The real question, though, was why my mother allowed my enemy into our home.
The betrayal ran deep.
“Why are you here?” I allowed myself to ask.
There must have been something in my tone because he stopped playing with my hair and instead got up.
“I always come over on Sundays,” he admitted softly.
His footsteps were soft as he walked out of my room. I took a few seconds to take it in before I decided to get out of bed. I sat up, feeling nostalgic, angry, and sad all at once. I was a hurricane of emotions.
God damn you, Tyler Kane.
Everyone knew that best-friend breakups were the absolute worst. That one person you could always count on being there for you was suddenly gone.
I took a deep breath, got my shit together, and walked out, ready to face my parents and he-who-shall-not-be-named.
Once outside, I found all three traitors in the backyard.
I felt like an intruder in my own home. I watched through the kitchen window as my parents interacted with Ty as if they had been doing this forever.
He laughed at something my dad said and took plates from my mother so he could help her set the table.
Whatever he said was too low for me to hear, but it made my mother laugh. She leaned into him and lightly swatted his arm.
An emotion burned through me.
Fuck—no.
I wasn’t jealous of my mother having an easygoing relationship with Tyler. It wasn’t that at all. It was the carefreeness of it all. I had lost that with Tyler because I had fallen for him, and then he made it worse because he sucked at being a friend.
The rift in our friendship started because of me, but it shattered because of him.
One dinner.
I could get through one dinner, then he could be on his merry way and I could return to pretending like he didn’t exist.
The plan sounded easy enough.
“Oh, there you are, sweetheart.” My mother smiled as if she had not betrayed me. “We have been waiting for you to wake up.”
Great.
Now my cheeks burned because they had apparently been watching me sleep.
Tyler had been watching me sleep.
Fuck him.
“I wasn’t aware we started to take in strays.”
“Astrid!” my dad scolded me.
The look in his eyes made me feel ashamed of my actions. I almost bit out an apology, but Tyler laughed it off. His laugh, however, was fake. As his ex-best friend, I could tell these things.
“It’s okay, Thatcher. No harm done. At least I’m loyal and won’t abandon you guys.” He waved it off.
My hands fisted at my sides before I did something stupid like try to punch his mouth.
“Are you saying I abandoned my parents?” I bit out.
In my peripheral vision, I saw my mom and dad walking back inside, not minding the catfight that was about to break out. In their defense, they had twelve years of experience with this. Except this time, it was very different.
“Four years… You up and left for four years, and you never returned to check on them. Not on spring breaks, summer vacations, Christmases, or any of their birthdays. Must be nice to up and leave the people who love you.”
My heart thumped as he causally threw the L-word out there.
“I didn’t abandon them. I called them, we video-chatted, and they visited me. I stayed in touch with the people I loved,” I bit back.
He flinched, and his jaw clenched.
Before we could go for round two, my parents came back out, smiling and giggling.
“Let’s eat. Then, for dessert, Tyler brought all your favorites.” My mother looked at me and wagged her eyebrows as she said it.
“What’s for dinner?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Lemon pepper chicken skewers,” my mom said. “They’re Tyler’s favorite.”
My eyes cut to him involuntarily, only to find his gaze already on me.
Those green eyes used to pierce me in the worst way.
I would get stuck looking at him, loving how his dark lashes framed his eyes, wondering how it would feel to have all his attention—as more than just a friend.
I fought the urge to look down due to the intensity of his stare.
Dinner was good, even if it was awkward at moments.
The chicken tasted amazing. My mom clearly tried new recipes and shared them with Ty-enemy.
My parents had to carry on the conversations.
On my end, it was like pulling teeth, while Ty was all too happy to speak.
He quickly realized that I would not be speaking directly to him—even if my parents were there.
Was it rude? Maybe.
At least I was sticking to my guns, which had to count for something.
As soon as we finished eating, I got up and cleared the table. My mother soon followed me inside.
“Astrid,” she bit out in an annoyed tone. “Stop being rude. I know I taught you better than this.”
Ouch.
I had to admit that hurt. It felt like she was taking a side, and it wasn’t mine. Biting my tongue wasn’t something I often did, but I held my retort out of respect for my mother. I had brought Tyler into our lives, and I had essentially forced my mother to step up when his mom passed away.
I was angry at him, and I wanted him out of my life. A petty part of me also wanted my mother to side with me, but she loved him. She helped raise him, and I would never force her to pick.
“You didn’t tell me he was coming,” I accused.
Her face softened just a fraction.
“You would have run out.”
“I’m still debating it,” I said sarcastically.
She shook her head and then pulled out a bag from Delicia’s. My mouth watered at the sight of all the pan dulce. Then she killed me when I saw the drink container.
“ No ,” I whooshed.
My mom poured the hot chocolate into a pan so she could reheat it.
The asshole got Lupe to make hot chocolate when it wasn’t in season. I wasn’t sure if my hatred for him went down a notch or up because his persistence pissed me off.
Even in wars, people called temporary truces, right? Without letting myself think twice about it, I marched back outside. My father was having a conversation with Tyler, and I didn’t let this dissuade me.
I kept walking up to them. Since my father was facing my way, he noticed me before Tyler did.
It was do-or-die time.
The moment my hand made contact with Ty’s, it was electric. In the absence of four years and a few months, I had forgotten what his skin on mine felt like.
I had always loved the way my hands seemed to get lost in his. It was the first thing I noticed when he hit puberty. When we were younger, I was so used to holding on to his hand that I was used to being the brave one.
On our first day of freshman year, I choked, and he held on to me. At that moment, I knew I loved how small I felt compared to him.
I was blaming these feelings on muscle memory and not because I still felt the same way I used to four years ago.
Tyler let himself be dragged by me. I went to the side of my house where the fence still caged it in so he nor my parents would think I was dragging him outside so I could kick him out.
Once we had some privacy, I turned around to face him. Augh, I wanted to wipe the smug look from his face. His grin made part of me that shouldn’t have any reason to react tingle.
“Are we making up now?” he drawled.
“In your dreams, Tylaster.” His eyes flashed in annoyance at my refusal to say his name, but he kept his mouth shut. “I’m calling for a temporary ceasefire.”
“We are not at war,” he stated.
I ignored him. He was a guy, therefore, he was dumb, and I didn’t have it in me to spell it out for him.
“While we are at my parents’, we will be cordial, but not friendly. They are a big part of our lives, so the strain of our fallout will not fall on them.”
“Do you even listen to yourself?”
“Truce, yes or no?” I bit out.
“I want to have an actual conversation,” he pleaded.
“And I want to get this day over with.”
His eyes flashed. Maybe it was hurt or anger, but I didn’t want to find out.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he questioned me.
I crossed my arms and tilted my head in acknowledgment.
Tyler took one step closer to me, and instinctively I took one back. This was a bad call on my end because I was now backed into a corner. My sharp intake of breath seemed to echo in this little nook. Something Tyler took notice of because those green eyes landed on my lips.
“You’re pissed at me, beautiful. I get that now,” he began speaking, and my stomach dropped.
He rarely used that nickname. It used to be said more often when we were little, but once we became teens, he stopped using it, and whenever he did, it got awkward real quick.
Maybe it was me making more out of it than it was.
“If you want to go around pretending like you hate me, then that’s on you, babe, but I’m not going to play your games. ”
My mouth opened and closed as I tried to formulate a coherent thought.
“I’m not playing games,” I hissed.
My eyes narrowed, and his smile turned into a grin. This time it was me, the one who got sucked into looking at his lips. I quickly realized what I was doing and lifted my gaze, but the look on Ty’s face made me wish I had never stepped outside today.
I would have remembered if Tyler Kane had ever looked at me the way he was currently doing so. There was longing in his gaze, but I could detect want for the first time in my life.
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
He seemed to get a bit closer, almost as if he had no more control of his body than I did. Every cell in my body was telling me to stay still. That maybe for the first time, I would be able to feel Ty’s mouth on me. That I would begin to discover the other thousand things I didn’t know about him.
I did what any sane girl in my place would do when being pressed against a fence by their enemy.
I punched Tyler in the gut.
“What the fuck, Astrid?” he whooshed in pain.
Using both my hands, I pushed him back by his shoulders. This time, he didn’t resist.
“I hate you,” I told him.
He looked annoyed by my statement.
“No, you don’t,” he acknowledged. “I want you back in my life, Astrid.”
“For what? So, you can just toss me aside whenever it suits your needs?”
He winced at this.
I began to walk away because, at this point, we seemed to be going around in circles.
“Once I have you back in my life, I won’t ever let you go again.”
His words were a vow that made my heart speed up.
Best friend, Astrid. He just wants to be best friends again.