He merely shrugged, opening my door wider. "It's my f.u.c.king house, and I don't ask anyone for rent, so I don't think they'll mind who I invite in. Besides, since when did you care, really? You and the girls practically lived there during last summer, so what's the difference now? We all grew up together, and you're one of us, so I don't get why you're acting this way."

Glaring at him, I felt as though I had to take a moment to lay it out on him. I did have to admit, though, Carter had a point. We all had grown up together, and yes, as he had pointed out, as well, in a sense I was one of them. I was a part of their crew. Indeed, I surely was, so why did I feel so f.u.c.king unsure about it?

"See, you don't even have some smart comeback. Come on, let's go," he said hurriedly before raising his brow at me. "Unless, of course, you want me to carry you. I could do that, too."

"Oh, shut up!" I rolled my eyes at him, feeling defeated. "I have legs, and I can still use them to get me from point A to point B; thank you very much." Huffing out, I dejectedly got out of bed with a worried face. "If they utter one bad word about me staying there, I'm outta there in a flash. Deal?"

He stupidly wiggled his brow before beaming his signature smile. "It's a deal, yo." With that said, he was immediately gone in a flash, leaving me no choice other than to drag myself downstairs and join him.

Since I hadn't unpacked any of my things from Athens, I technically had everything I needed to make my small two week jaunt to his house. Before I knew it, I was secured in his car, making our way towards his house, reaching it in a manner of minutes.

d.a.m.n, it had better pan out well, or I was going to kick Carter's b.u.t.t big time.

The moment I jumped out of his car, I could already feel my heart pitter-pattering like mad, leaving me utterly nervous. Glancing towards a relaxed Carter as he was opening the house door, I braced myself as I followed behind him.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you, but you're going to be staying in my room," he nonchalantly informed me as he looked around the house that was packed with random people from school.

"What happened to the spare room?" I hissed at him, not wanting people to overhear our conversation since some people were already curious at seeing Carter with luggage in hand. Since he had already come here, they knew the luggage wasn't his and most likely mine.

"I forgot to tell you?" he c.o.c.ked his head sideways. "We took in an exchange student for a few months. His name is Johann, and he's from Denmark."

"What?" I almost screamed at him, probably because no one had ever mentioned an exchange student or the f.u.c.king fact that I didn't have a room to myself and would be sharing a room with Carter.

What had I gotten myself into?

Chapter Ten.

"Amber?"

Oh, dear G.o.d, not yet, I silently prayed, knowing full well who that voice belonged to.

Internally cringing as I shifted to the side to face him, I wasn't surprised to find he was throwing his best friend a dubious look.

"Carter?" he questioned with a heavy note of suspicion in his voice.

I was about to say my h.e.l.lo, but Carter spoke first.

"Amber's staying with us for the next two weeks. Let me go ahead and situate her things first, and then I'll join you guys afterwards."

Brody's face darkened before he threw me an accusing yet confused look.

Before I had the chance to argue against whatever he was obviously imagining in his mind, Carter hastily placed his hand on my back, eagerly ushering me out of the spotlight and into the pathway of the staircase, leading me towards the bedrooms.

Reeling from the awkward encounter, my heart remained pounding as I entered his private quarter. I worriedly watched him drag my things towards the end of the room, parking them next to an empty chair before he faced me with a s.h.i.t-eating grin.

"He didn't look happy."

Carter shrugged as if it was no big deal to him. "He'll get over it."

My eyes were as big as saucers as I glared at him. Why couldn't he take this seriously? What the h.e.l.l!

"I don't want it to be weird between you two because of me. I can just go back home. I really don't mind."

"You're already here. Toughen up a little bit. So he's probably mad? Who cares? It's not as if you're his keeper. What you do or don't do isn't any of his business."

If he said it that way, then yes, it made complete sense, but come on, Brody seemed like he was going to skin me alive by the look he was giving me. It was as though I was cheating on him or something, which was seriously absurd.

"I don't know about this..."

"Just use this opportunity to up your game a little. Maybe it's time you show him you're done following him like a lost puppy." His blatant comment overrode the suggestion he had made, making me squirm hardcore from ultimate embarra.s.sment.

"What? I'm really that obvious?" G.o.d, how humiliating. How many knew and saw me as this lovesick, pathetic woman? s.h.i.t. Unbeknownst to me, I began to nervously chew on my thumb as I tried to calm myself. Maybe Carter had a point about making this an opportunity to change things between Brody and I. Better yet, maybe it was high time people saw me differently, as well, and not labeled me as some lovesick fool.

My newly minted resolution came to a standstill when there was a loud rap at the door.

Before Carter and I could bring our attention towards it, Brody yanked it open, looking as if he was ready to tackle whoever was in his way.

I was holding my breath as our eyes connected, and I could have sworn I saw something there, something that held substantial meaning, but that vital thought was left unexplored because my heart felt as if it was about to explode from seeing him rattled.

His familiar, handsome face I could stare at all night long had been frozen in a frown since his eyes had landed on me tonight.

"I need to speak to you," he deadpanned, unblinking before pointedly adding, "Alone."

Glancing towards Carter, who seemed to be unmoved by Brody's arctic att.i.tude, I knew I had to take the initiative in trying to calm him down by taking this private discussion elsewhere.

"All right," I conceded with a nod. "Okay, if that's what you want."

I made my way towards the door, barely throwing Carter a mild look as I exited and then found myself being slightly pushed towards Brody's bedroom at the opposite side of the hall. A protest teased the tip of my tongue, yet I reined it in, knowing this wasn't the time to test how foul his mood was.

Truth be told, I was a little surprised by his reaction. I get that maybe he was feeling somewhat betrayed if his thoughts were leading him to me and Carter hooking up. Apart from that, however, he should be speaking to his friend more than me since he and I didn't have a "relationship." I didn't want to label what we did have or had, because it was embarra.s.sing to even admit it. Let's face it; I was his booty call, nothing more.

Upon entering his room, he didn't even wait until the door was closed before his verbal attack began, putting me on the spot.

"Are you really f.u.c.king serious about this, Amber?" He was as mad as a d.a.m.n bull. "What the f.u.c.k's gotten into you? You must be out of your mind to consider sleeping in Carter's room."

I opened my mouth, feeling as if I had to defend myself, but before I had the chance to spar back, he continued his attack. "Are you f.u.c.king him now, too?"

Oh, h.e.l.l no! "Well, f.u.c.k you very much, Brody!"

What was I to him? A hussy? Probably. After all, I never once denied him if he sought me for s.e.x. At this point, I was going to look bad in his eyes either way. There was no way to save myself from this. Might as well just go with what he thought of me. Like that would make a difference.

"You know what? Think what you like. If you're done insulting me and yelling at me, I'd very much like to go now."

"He's not going to make you happy. I hope you know that."

Like I really cared, but apparently, Brody seriously did. Had he told me this was making him angry-maybe even a little bit jealous-I would have given in just so he would be okay with it. However, he hadn't done any of that.

I figured he was more angry at the thought of his friends sleeping with "one of his women." As a result, a little shamefaced from yet another major letdown from him, I angrily led myself out of his room and hightailed back towards Carter's room, needing to get away from Brody as fast as I possibly could.

I needed a cold drink, preferably something alcoholic and strong to calm my nerves.

These two weeks were going to be nightmare. Of course, I was going to go through with it regardless, because it would be a good test for me. In a way, I needed to detox myself of this ridiculous love I had for him. And what better way to do it than here?

I was almost convinced that, by the end of this trivial ordeal, I would be a free woman. No more attachments, no more guilt trips.

Chapter Eleven.

Later that evening, Carter left for about an hour. I a.s.sumed he went to speak to Brody. However, I was touched and surprised when he came back with a bag of take-out food and immediately set up shop on the floor in the middle of the room without a care in the world.

"Thought you might be hungry, so I went to grab some food. Hope you like ribs, mac and cheese, and some slaw."

I was starving. In fact, my tummy had been making a whiny protest minutes before he arrived.

"I love all of the above!" My smile was ma.s.sive as I hopped off the couch and joined him on the floor. "I must say, Carter, you're actually not that bad. As a matter of fact, I think you're mighty awesome." If he kept going like this, I might just be tempted to trade in Trista for Carter as my bff. Carter was less evasive than the redhead. Okay, that was a fanciful thought, but I could just imagine Trista's face when I told her what I had been up to.

Salivating as Carter took the food from the bag, I was humming and whistling as I drooled over the luscious aroma wafting its way to me as he opened an item.

Handing me a fork, he gave me a questionable look before asking, "Did anyone try to bug you while I was away?"

I shook my head. "No, surprisingly not."

"Good," he said with a satisfied nod. "I spoke to him on the way out. He shouldn't bug you like that from now on. Well, while you're a guest here, that is."

I stilled, giving him a shocked look. "You spoke to him?" That must have been interesting.

"Yeah, I had to. It isn't like you two are dating, so I asked what his deal was, and he only said he just wasn't expecting it."

"That's all he said?"

"Yup," he said with a pop of his mouth.

Well, there you go. Had Brody cared more, he would have done something about it. He didn't, though, so there was my answer.

We began to eat with enthusiasm while recalling the best parts of Lindsey's wedding and rehashing childhood memories that highlighted Lindsey's crazy moments.

"Why are you doing this?" I really wanted to know why he was putting his friendship with Brody on the line by taking me in.

He pondered a moment, taking a break from eating to drink from his soda before he finally responded.

"You and me, we're both in the same boat. Maybe I'm just fed up with all this c.r.a.p and all the bulls.h.i.t. We're like the underdog, you know? We don't have a f.u.c.king choice but to deal what they dole out. So, I thought, f.u.c.k, this is so f.u.c.ked up, and if I can help you get out of this situation, I shouldn't hesitate." His heartfelt sentiment went straight to my heart, touching me deeply. "It sucks, you know? It's hard-it's f.u.c.king hard-and I f.u.c.king get that."

It was, and I was honestly glad he was here with me.

"Thank you. Thank you for that and your kind words. You have no idea how good that just made me feel." No one, not even Trista, could understand what it was to be in this position.

Done with our cozy dinner, Carter did the gentlemanly thing by taking the couch while I took over his bed. I was actually surprised he didn't join his friends and party outside. It gave me a glimpse of the new Carter-the tortured one. This new version had a soul, had intense depth, and I couldn't help having more respect now that I understood where he was in life, his pain, thanks to this odd sense of camaraderie with him.

He was a friend, and I was happy I had found someone who understood me without undermining my decisions or my inexplicable pain.

~ A ~.

The next day, freshly showered with my wet hair in a loose bun, I donned some casual, denim short shorts and a peach-hued loose top then tiptoed out of the room to find Carter still fast asleep on the couch.

Upon entering the kitchen, I was surprised to see Brody there, about to make a pot of coffee.

"Well, look at you, looking fresh as a daisy!" His comment was made with a barb, coming off unfriendly.

I stilled, but instead of throwing back shade, I clashed my eyes with his. "Your eyes are red ... very red."

"That's what happens when you don't sleep."

Obviously. It was a miracle I got any sleep at all knowing what the h.e.l.l was going on in the house. Thankfully, I did get rested sleep.

"Well, maybe you should head to bed, then, 'cause you look like you're about to pa.s.s out."

He threw me a hurtful look, as if he was p.i.s.sed and saddened at the same time. "Can you blame me, Amber? You're the one who decided to barge in here and f.u.c.k with my head."

I blinked a few times, perplexed, before I found the wherewithal to speak. "What? You think that's what I'm here for?"

He was insane.

He didn't move, didn't blink. Instead of addressing what I had just said, what came out of his mouth threw me for a loop.

"So how were the newlyweds?" he stonily asked, drawled with pure acid.

d.a.m.n, he wanted to go there. Okay, then.

"Good ... you know ... They're the same as usual." As usual, I wanted to jab it in, but I chose to answer it in a less cruel way since he was hurting. It was plastered all over him, even if he wouldn't admit it. I knew Brody well.

Something flashed in his eyes before he made a cruel smirk. "I wouldn't know," he said.

He resumed his task of making coffee, busying himself with measuring the coffee grounds, pouring chilled water into the water panel, and then pressing the start b.u.t.ton for it to begin brewing. Only then did he finally resort to looking back at where I remained unmoved from my spot, somewhat mesmerized by him doing menial ch.o.r.es.

"She lied and kept a secret about being married to him while I was with her."

Immense sadness filled me. I was sad for myself, for him, and the unchangeable situation itself. Personal emotions aside, I understood where he was coming from, but at the same time, I couldn't ignore the hurt that was constantly stabbing my heart each time I saw him, knowing full well he would never be mine.