All Madison wants for Christmas is the same person who once wanted her. Free from the shackles of her broken heart, she's finally ready to give love another shot. But is Madi too late to win back the man of her dreams?
SEQUEL to The Heartbreak Hypot...
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"How's uni? Psychology, right?"
Gritting my teeth was a knee-jerk response. One I tried to play off as a smile, shaking my head. "Biology."
Damon nodded enthusiastically, grinning right back—in a way that told me he hadn't heard what I said over the music blaring overhead. "Right, right."
Noah widened his eyes sympathetically, disguising his own grimace behind a sip of beer. But then Damon and his friends turned their questioning back onto him, and Noah expertly blinked his amusement away.
When I'd emerged from the bathroom of the grungy nightclub—tucked somewhere between the ski resort and Capri—I'd been surprised to find Noah shooting me torpedo alerts from the bar. But then I saw who he was standing with.
His acquaintances from baseball.
Eli's friends from baseball.
Eli's best friend, Damon.
And, by then, it'd been too late to retreat into the ladies' room and set up camp for the night.
So I smiled when they approached me. Engaged in awkward but polite conversation. And weathered the unfortunate side effects of taking the moral high ground.
Damon pretended to hear my answer to a question. Again. The conversation lulled. Again.
And maybe because Eli's friends were staring at me so expectantly, maybe because I was nervous and restless and nosey, I asked, "How is he?"
Damon choked on his drink.
The others went pale.
"Good," one sputtered.
And then they looked away. Hid their expressions behind a sip of beer. Made eye contact with anyone but me.
A lie.
I indulged it, offering a curt nod. And then Damon's gaze was fixed on mine again, piercing me differently from how it had been before.
"And you?" he asked.
Movement caught my eye, and I found myself following it. Five figures were huddled in a booth across the club. Watching me. Intently. Kara, in particular, didn't make the same effort I had to mask her grimace.
I swallowed the urge to roll my eyes at them. And realized that a smile was flirting with my lips. "Good."
Not a lie.
An understatement.
Eventually, Noah and I managed to peel ourselves away from the bar, throwing our best wishes for the new year over our shoulders. We bounded across the dancefloor hand-in-hand, weaving through the packed bodies until we were certain we were out of sight.
"What are the chances?" Noah chuckled as we crossed to the booth—and the nosey fivesome in it.
I waved him off. "The universe and I have a very toxic relationship."
