Chapter 80

I leaned back and narrowed my eyes. “Let him go?”

He was staring into his cup with a serious expression. When he looked up, his eyes were brimming with tears. “I can’t be with you two,” he whispered.

His words hit me hard. “What are you saying?”

“I thought I could do this. I really did. But I-I can’t, Nick. I don’t have what it takes. I can’t fall in love with you both. I’m already in too deep with Derek, and now…I’m starting to get caught up in your undertow. No, I have to take a step back. This isn’t gonna work.”

I could argue with him. Maybe even change his mind. But there was a time for persuasion and now was not the moment. “So, uh, this is it? I mean—us. The relationship?”

“Yes…I think so, yes.”

After tonight, how amazing the chemistry had been between us? But maybe that was what had him fleeing. “Are you sure?”

His eyes told me he wasn’t sure at all. “I’m sure,” he said, anyway.

“That’s too bad. Fucking sucks actually. Really does.”