Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 04

Pretend To Be His Bestie For Her! Fine, I Dumped My Boyfriend And Childhood Buddies! Chapter 04

I opened my messages and pulled up my chat with my manager.

[Is there still a spot for me on that project we talked about?]

The reply came almost immediately.

[Absolutely.]

[Is your trip over?]

I hesitated for a moment.

[Yeah.]

[I’ll be back tomorrow.]

Then I opened my suitcase and started packing.

This trip was over.

And so was whatever I had left with them.

In the middle of the night, my hotel room door swung open.

I sat up groggily.

Ethan walked in carrying a suitcase, with Chloe right behind him.

She still had that same wounded, helpless look on her face.

I immediately pulled the blanket tighter around myself.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sleeping. Get out!”

Ethan ignored me and opened Chloe’s suitcase.

“There’s a leak in Chloe’s room, so she’s staying here tonight.”

“You take the couch. Let her have the bed.”

I stared at him.

They had barged into my room in the middle of the night, were taking over my space, and now I was supposed to sleep on the couch?

Chloe spoke softly.

“Ethan, I don’t want to stay with her.”

“I feel like… she has feelings for you.”

“I’m scared she might do something to me…”

She glanced at me and let the sentence trail off.

For some reason, I almost laughed.

No matter what Chloe said, Ethan never once bothered to tell her the truth.

I’d been there first, yet somehow I was the one who looked like I was intruding on their relationship.

He’d gone from treating me like one of the guys to acting like Chloe’s boyfriend.

Ethan checked his phone.

“This hotel is sold out.”

“There’s another hotel about three miles away with a room available.”

“You can stay there. We’ll pick you up every morning.”

I opened the address he sent me.

It was well outside town, in a pretty isolated area.

At three in the morning, the streets around it would probably be deserted.

I looked at Ethan, then at Chloe hiding behind him.

I said one word.

“Fine.”

I kept packing.

The headphones on the desk were a gift from Ethan.

I left them.

The purse in the closet had been his gift for my twentieth birthday.

I left that too.

As I emptied my things out of it, Ethan spoke impatiently.

“Just take what you need. You’re coming back anyway.”

“It’s already late. Hurry up so Chloe can get some sleep.”

I paused.

So Chloe needed rest, but I didn’t.

That was why I could be dragged out of bed in the middle of the night.

That was why I had to move to a hotel three miles away.

Maybe I never should have agreed to this ridiculous “one of the guys” act in the first place.

None of them even deserved to be called my friends.

I zipped my suitcase shut.

“I’m done.”

After getting Chloe settled, Ethan walked me to the door.

“Text me when you get there.”

I didn’t answer.

He added, “Stop sulking.”

“When the trip’s over, I’ll explain everything to her.”

I smiled faintly.

“I’ll look forward to that.”

I got into a cab.

“Airport, please.”

The driver glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

“Was that your boyfriend back there?”

“Good-looking guy.”

I shook my head.

“He used to be. Not anymore.”

Now he belonged to someone else.

By the time I got home, it was eight the next morning.

The group chat was buzzing as everyone debated where to take Chloe for local food later.

Mason messaged me privately.

Mason: [Bro, still mad?]

Mason: [That hotel you’re at is too far out. Picking you up will throw off the whole schedule.]

Mason: [Just get a cab back yourself.]

Mason: [Oh, there’s a great wrap place near your hotel.]

Mason: [Bring five for us.]

Five.

Exactly five.

Not one for me.

It was the same with everything else.

All their care and attention went to Chloe. There was never any left for me.

I blocked all four guys one by one.

Then I left the group chat.

That was it.

I didn’t need a goodbye.

I didn’t need to explain myself either.

I didn’t care anymore, and I was too tired to say anything else.