“Come on, man,” I groan, looking away. “I don’t want to talk about this shit.”
Jackson scoffs. “When will you be ready because so far you’ve been hiding out in here for a fucking week.”
“I’m not hiding,” I snap back at him.
“Then what is it? Did something go down with Bry?”
I let out a frustrated groan and reach for my beer as I turn back to the T.V. “It’s none of your goddamn business,” I say, trying to tune them out.
Nate grabs the remote off the edge of the coffee table and turns off the T.V. I go to reprimand him but as I look over at him, all I see is a friend who’s truly concerned about me. “We’re not here to bust your balls, Ty. You’re hurting, that’s clear. We just want to know why so we can help you.”
I let out a heavy sigh as I look around at the boys to see them all nodding, honestly hating seeing me like this. My gaze drops down to my hands in my lap, not prepared to face these guys as I tell them what’s been going on. “I told Bry that I love her.”
Jesse sucks in a sharp breath before running both of his hands down his face. “Fuck,” he sighs, not needing any more than that to understand what’s going on.
“You’re in love with her?” Maxen asks, looking shocked. “When the fuck did that happen?”
“Start of my junior year,” I explain.
His eyes bug out of his head just as the rest of the guys’ do. Not one of them knew the extent of our relationship, though I have a feeling Jesse had his suspicions, but if he did, he never really said anything until recently.
“Shit,” Puck says, leaning forward onto his elbows. “So, what happened?”
I narrow my eyes on him, wondering if he may already know. After all, Brylee is Courtney’s best friend and I’m sure she would have talked to her about it, meaning Courtney wouldn’t have been able to resist telling Puck, but the clueless look on his face tells me that maybe Brylee has been keeping this quiet.
“I told her I wanted to make it work. I’m sick of random hookups with her, I want a fucking future with her. I don’t want to have to keep sleeping with random chicks just so I can forget her face for half-an-hour. I know she feels something. I can feel it, but she’s too fucking stubborn to admit it to herself. She said it would never work and that we should just go back to what we were doing.”
“Oooh, fuck,” Jackson says with a cringe before launching himself over the back of the couch and heading for my bar. “I think this shit calls for some of the good stuff.”
Jackson rifles through my bar and I continue, knowing that if I stop now, I’ll never be able to finish the story. “I couldn’t go back to randomly fucking her on couches after parties. Don’t get me wrong, it was fucking incredible, but I want more.”
Nate nods in understanding. “You gave her an ultimatum, didn’t you?”
I press my lips into a tight line. “I can’t keep chasing something, knowing that I’ll never reach the finish line. I told her it was all in or all out. I don’t want to do this in-between bullshit anymore, and she chose to be out.”
Jesse’s hand comes down on my shoulder as Jackson returns with a bottle of whisky. “That’s too bad, man. I really thought you two would be able to work something out.”
“Yeah, I did too,” I grumble, taking the bottle from Jackson and taking a long drink, welcoming the burn.
“Why though?” Jesse asks. “It doesn’t make sense. When the two of you are together, it’s clear that she’s more than just into you. Why wouldn’t she want that?”
I go to respond when Puck takes the answer right out of my mouth. “Yale,” he says, deep in thought, giving me the spare moment to take another hit. “She’s always wanted Yale and now that she’s got it, she wants to make it worth her time.”
I nod, knowing he would have worked that out from endless conversations with Courtney. The boys look to me for confirmation and I nod as I hand the bottle to Jess. “Partially, yes,” I explain. “There’s that and there’s the fact that she doesn’t believe that we could withstand a long-distance relationship. Add in the fucked-up idea that she can’t trust me to be faithful, and she couldn’t have run from the idea any faster.”
The bottle gets passed around and it finds itself in Nate’s hands when he looks at the boys and pulls that dominating crap on us. “Alright, get the fuck out,” he tells them. “Me and Tyson need to have a chat.” Jesse’s eyes narrow at his brother while Maxen, Puck, and Jackson simply get up and walk out, not being fucking stupid enough to question Nate Ryder. “You too, Jess,” Nate adds in a softer tone that he reserves for his younger brother. “We’re just going to talk.”