I Made a Bracelet for the Man Who Didn’t Love Me, and He Wore It for Two Years Chapter 08

I Made a Bracelet for the Man Who Didn’t Love Me, and He Wore It for Two Years Chapter 08

I spent half a month’s pay on Vivian’s birthday gift.

On the way there,

the cab I was in broke down.

Fortunately, we were already close.

So I got out and walked the rest of the way.

Near the venue, a luxury car nearly clipped me.

I stumbled and hit the ground.

A moment later, the driver climbed out.

His voice had an easy, careless drawl.

“You okay? Want me to take you to the ER?”

He walked toward me as he spoke.

I looked up.

He looked ready to say something else. Then he saw my face, froze, and yanked off his sunglasses.

He stared at me, his Adam’s apple bobbing once.

“Claire?”

I recognized him too.

It was Cole Harrington, the guy who’d rejected my follow request.

He helped me into his car.

“Where to?”

I gave him the address.

He looked surprised. “You’re going to Vivian’s birthday too? You’ve already seen Grant?”

“When did that happen?”

I answered honestly.

“Not long ago.”

“Grant mentioned you too.”

Cole blinked. “What did he say about inc?”

I glanced at his profile.

He was undeniably handsome. And apparently every bit as loyal as Grant had said.

Cole and I had never been close, yet after I vanished, he was the only one who kept worrying that

something had happened to me.

“He said you’d been looking for me. He gave me your Instagram and told me to reach out.”

I paused. “Thanks, Cole. Really. You’re a good guy.”

Cole was quiet for a beat.

Then he glanced over, one brow lifting.

“I’m not like this with everyone.”

I blinked. He picked up his phone and scrolled for a while.

He found my request.

Then accepted it.

He explained,

“My cousin put my Instagram on one of those anonymous campus crush accounts a while back. I’ve

been buried in follow requests ever since, so I stopped checking them closely.”

Once he’d accepted me, he set his phone aside.

Then he asked,

“You’re not going to change your number and disappear again, are you?”

I gave an awkward smile. “No.”

When we arrived, Cole and I went in together.

Most of the people there were Grant’s D.C. friends.

Not the New York crowd I’d known.

So none of them had met me before.

The teasing started almost immediately.

“Your girlfriend?”

Cole kicked the guy lightly. “Shut up.”

That only encouraged them.

Even Sophie came over and whispered, “I think he actually likes you. He’s asked me more than once if I knew where you were… Maybe you should consider him.”

I’d never exactly had people lining up to confess their feelings, so the thought hadn’t crossed my

mind.

After Sophie said it, though, I couldn’t stop myself from glancing at Cole.

On my twelfth look, someone stepped directly into my line of sight.

I looked up.

Grant was standing there.

He held a stemmed glass, idly swirling the red wine.

He looked down at me and asked, almost lazily,

“Like him?”

I snapped out of it. “No.”

Grant’s brow furrowed. I couldn’t tell if he believed me, but he said,

“He’s a good guy. You could try dating him.”

Then he turned and went back to Vivian.

Only after he walked away did it hit me.

Grant had been trying to push Cole and me together from the start.