Page 33 of The Perfect Deal

I laughed louder. “Don’t be silly. We’ve just been busy. And it’s not like you’ve called me either, big brother.”

“True, but I was hoping you’d call me. I didn’t want to interrupt anything. How’s it going?”

“That’s the thing,” I told him with a deep sigh. “I was hoping you could come and get me.” I sank down onto my bed, trying my best to fight all of the emotions I had bubbling to the surface.

“And you’re trying to tell me nothing’s wrong?” He was obviously concerned again, and I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t like me to just bail.

“Yeah. It’s fine. I’m just homesick, and I have a ton of editing to do. It’ll be easier to do that away from here. Besides, the other counselor in my bunk snores like a lumberjack. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep the whole time I’ve been here. I just want to sleep in my own bed for a change.” I let out an exhausted groan, and I knew I wouldn’t have to say anything else.

“All right. No problem. I can leave right now. I’ll text you when I get there. I have no idea how to actually navigate through that camp to wherever the hell you’re located.”

“Thank you, Landon. I’ll find you,” I assured him. I knew how to get out to the gate, and that was where I planned on meeting him. There was no reason for Landon to try to find Joshua to check in. That would be a disaster.

Hanging up, I returned my efforts to packing. I had over an hour to kill before he arrived, assuming he was at the office and not at home. I took my time rolling my clothes to make sure everything fit into my suitcase. When I picked up the bathing suit I’d worn to the pool party, my heart sank. Why did men have to be such pigs sometimes?

With my bags packed, I headed out, figuring it was better to stand out by the gate for a while than risk having to say goodbye to the girls again—or seeing Joshua. I didn’t want to have to keep explaining why I was leaving. I just wanted to go.

A bench beneath a shade tree greeted me on the other side of the gate that kept the kids in and the world out. With my phone in my hand, I tried to distract myself with a mindless game until the sound of my brother’s vehicle had me lifting my head.

He hopped out to help me put my stuff in the back, and then we both climbed inside and headed home. It didn’t take long for the interrogation to start again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” I told him. “I’ve been outside in the heat with a bunch of teenagers for days, and I’m just exhausted.”

Landon grumbled. “No one tried anything, did they? If one of those coaches so much as put a finger on you—”

“No,” I told him. “Nothing like that.”

He didn’t believe me. “It wasn’t Joshua, was it? If he tried anything, I’ll kill him.”

“Sadly not,” I told him, snickering. “Your best friend is true to you beyond anything else.”

Landon’s forehead knitted together. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Waving him off, I turned my attention out the window. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter. It never has. Everything is fine, big brother. Just take me home.”

He sighed and let the questioning go.

I knew I was going to have to change my attitude if I didn’t want another inquisition to begin in a minute, so I forced myself to ask, “How’s work?”

That got him to start talking about the office. I nodded along, pretending to pay attention, but my thoughts were elsewhere.

What would happen if I just told Landon the truth, just blurted it out? “I had sex with Joshua!”

No, I could never do that. He could never know the truth. It would kill him. Besides, at this point, what difference did it make?

It was never going to happen again. No matter how much I loved him.

21

JOSHUA

She was gone.

I’d really fucked up this time, quite literally, and I had no idea what to do about any of it. Without Liberty around, I felt a vast void in the middle of my chest. Every breath I took felt labored, like I was inhaling underwater.

Standing outside on a flag football field, doing my best to keep a smile plastered to my face, I tried to focus on the practices unfolding around me, but it was nearly impossible. Every time the other photographer’s camera clicked, I found myself turning my head, hoping Liberty had reappeared. It was stupid—it was my fault the girl was gone, and she wasn’t just going to come back into my life like nothing had happened.

If she even came back at all, I’d be a lucky man. She’d said she’d be back for the second session. Why had she left to begin with? Why couldn’t we have just sat down and talked it through? I could’ve apologized for letting things go too far, and then, we could’ve gone back to the way it had been for as long as I could remember. Flirting, spending time with one another, but knowing we couldn’t possibly ever be together. After all, it was her stupid brother who made it this way.