Page 90 of The Love Penalty

“Hey, are you okay?” His eyes scan my face with a panicky look. “Is Asher here?”

“No,” I rasp. Ugh, even hearing his name hurts.

I grip the edge of the door as Casey visibly relaxes. “Okay.” He breathes the word with relief.

“Caroline’s not here either.”

“That’s all right. I was here to see you anyway.”

My head jolts back. “Why? What’s going on?” My voice is starting to shake… along with the rest of me. “Why are you acting weird?”

His relief is fleeting, his expression scrunching into a wince as he softly whispers, “Please don’t hate me.”

My insides revolt, clenching tight as I close my eyes. “You told him.”

“I had to.” Casey nudges his way into the room. I step aside to let him pass, and he glances around before turning back to me with a pained frown. “He was freaking out that you dumped him like that. He needed an explanation.”

“But…” I suck in a breath that then comes out as a pitiful whimper. “He’s gonna be devastated.”

“Yeah, he really didn’t take it well.” Casey runs a hand through his hair, making it stick up at funny angles as he cringes and looks over his shoulder. “He took off like a crazed man, and I was worried he came here to… I don’t know…” Spinning back, he takes me in with a sad smile, his voice dropping to a soft lilt. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

That’s so sweet.

I try to smile my thanks, but tears blur my vision, and those sobs I’ve been fighting for the last hour start to jerk my body again. Plunking onto the edge of my bed, I snatch a few tissues out of the box and bunch them into my eyes, catching the tears before they can fall.

Casey lets out a soft sigh and takes a seat beside me. “Where’s Caroline?”

“She went to get emergency ice cream,” I blubber.

He lets out a soft laugh, his voice warm with affection. “Of course she did.”

I sniff, my belly trembling when I glance up at him. “Ice cream’s not going to fix this, Case.”

“I know.” His face buckles with empathy and he puts his arm around me, pulling me to his side so I can rest my head on his shoulder and cry for real.

I stop fighting and let the sobs punch out of me—these low, aching noises that I’d usually be humiliated by, but I’m in too much pain to care.

Casey squeezes my shoulder, resting his cheek against the top of my head and not saying anything.

At some point Caroline returns, the door popping open, then softly shutting behind her. She doesn’t say anything, just shares a worried frown with her boyfriend before placing the ice cream on the floor and shuffling around to my left side.

The bed dips just a little as she takes a seat and curves her arm around my waist. Kissing my shoulder, she then rests her head against it, and we all sit there in debilitating silence.

Because there’s nothing we can say to make this better.

Nothing is going to fix this shitty situation.

CHAPTER 41

ASHER

It didn’t take long to find the party Harvey was attending. It was the only one happening on Greek Row. Even so, by the time I got there, the rage and anger building inside me was like a freaking hurricane, and when I spotted him, I couldn’t contain myself.

He was leaning over a girl, her back pressed against the wall while he flirted with her, his hand resting on the wall while his fingers curled around the ends of her hair. She was looking smitten and proud that a guy like Harvey would notice her.

And all I could see was Lani on her knees, begging him to get the hell out of her while he held her hips and pounded on her.

I’m not sure if I roared, but the people around me seemed to gasp and flinch away from me as I charged at Harvey and fisted the back of his jacket.