If the Sun Never Sets (If Love 2)

“Okay.” Justin smiled, cheerful as ever. Crazy motherfucker. Blake was beginning to think he’d hired—and fired—a psychopath.

“Calm the fuck down,” Sammy ordered, sounding like a different person from the easygoing, good-natured Sammy Blake remembered from Shanghai. “Do you want to tell us what happened so we can figure out a solution, or do you want to fight like a temperamental child?”

Blake counted to three and exhaled sharply through his nose. “Let go of me.”

“Only if you promise not to beat Justin to a pulp.”

“I promise. Now let go,” he gritted.

Once Landon and Sammy released him, Blake brushed his shoulders off and gave his friends an abbreviated version of what happened, minus the Cleo part. He didn’t want to, but they’d hound him to the ends of the earth until he did.

By the

time he finished, all three of their jaws hung open.

“Wait. Let me get this straight.” Justin held up a hand. “You broke up with a girl you’re still in love with because…you’re afraid you’ll hurt her one day? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Reliving the night of the breakup had sapped Blake of his energy, and he was too tired to snap at Justin. “It’s complicated.”

“No, it’s not. It’s simple. You. Are. An. Idiot. Of the highest degree.” Justin shook his head in disgust. “Congratulations, Sir Idiot, you win the award for Most Fucked-Up Reasoning of the Year.”

“Thank you, Sir Syphilis, your input means so much to me.”

“I do not have syphilis. I get tested every two weeks.”

Blake grimaced, trying not to think about how many women Justin had to sleep with to warrant such frequent testing.

“I agree with Justin,” Sammy said. “Man up and tell Farrah the truth about what’s got you all twisted up inside. Pushing her away because of a hypothetical is, in fact, idiotic. It should be her decision whether she stays or leaves.”

She already left. And moved right the fuck on with someone who looked like a reject member of One Direction back when they were still a thing.

“She’s better off without me,” Blake muttered.

“Do you hear yourself?” Sammy threw his hands in the air. “Stop trying to decide what’s best for her! She’s in love with you, you freakin’ doofus. You’re in love with her. Don’t make this so hard. Figure it out.”

“She’s not in love with me. And I don’t want to hurt her.”

Sammy, Landon, and Justin groaned at the same time.

“Moron,” Justin said. “I have a moron for a boss.”

“You’re fired,” Blake reminded him.

“Thank God. Otherwise, your stupidity might bleed into me by osmosis.”

“Blake.” Sammy grabbed Blake by the shoulders and shook him. Actually shook him. “What do you think you did when you pushed Farrah away? You hurt her. We both know how stubborn she can be. She wouldn’t have tried so hard to get you to open up if she didn’t care. She gave you a second chance. She trusted you again even though you broke her heart the first time around. And how did you repay her? By letting her go instead of letting her in. You didn’t even give her a chance to be there for you.”

Blake opened his mouth, but no words came out.

“You done fucked it up this time.” Justin yawned again. “Good luck finding another girl who’ll put up with your shit.”

“Shut up, J,” Landon said.

Meanwhile, dismay crept through Blake’s veins, slow and insidious, until it swallowed him whole. “I’m an idiot,” he realized.

His friends let out another collective groan.

Landon pinched the bridge of his nose like he had a massive migraine.