Hard to Endure Chapter 03

Hard to Endure Chapter 03

I blinked, and I remembered the first time Adrian and I met.

That night, Adrian was drunk, and he ran into me at a bar where I was drinking myself numb too. As we passed each other, he suddenly grabbed my hand.

I looked up and stared at him for a moment. He pulled me into his arms, and I held on to him and didn’t let go. He cried and begged me not to leave. I cried and begged him not to abandon me.

It was a crazy night, although two drunk people in the same bed couldn’t do much of anything. The crazy part was that we ended up together.

Adrian told me it was love at first sight for him. I said, “What a coincidence. Me too.”

When Adrian introduced me to his friends, I heard their muffled “Holy crap,” even though they kept it low. I pretended not to.

Later, I found Vanessa’s photo in Adrian’s wallet, and I stared at it for a long time. Adrian tore it up, flustered and nervous, and tossed the pieces in the trash. “Sorry, babe. I barely use my wallet. I forgot it was in there.”

When he pulled me into his arms, only one thought filled my head. So I was her stand-in. But that was okay. Luckily, he was a stand-in too.

The truth was, the moment Vanessa came back, I’d known it was time to break up. But Adrian had never once brought it up.

I gave Vanessa a grateful look and asked her seriously, “Um, did you find our account on your own, or did Adrian send it to you?”

The question was sincere, but Vanessa thought I was taunting her. After all, the day after she and Adrian broke up, I’d started dating him.

I figured the reason Adrian had agreed to start a couples account with me was probably so Vanessa would see it from all the way overseas.

Vanessa got so mad at me that she stormed off. “Summer, are you out of your mind? You don’t actually think those stupid videos of yours are popular, do you?”

That night, Adrian didn’t come home again. A callout video exposing fake couples quietly started going viral.

Vanessa had written a whole essay about her epic, tragic love story with Adrian, and about me, the attention-seeking other woman who’d shown up at the worst possible time. My account got tagged nonstop.

Adrian texted me.

Adrian: [Don’t respond to any of it.]

Adrian: [Wait till I get home. I’ll explain everything.]

Vanessa sent me a picture. There were a few fresh red scratches across Adrian’s back. I finally realized where I’d gone wrong.

I unhid the video. Then I let out a long breath, and with trembling fingers, I opened a conversation that had sunk to the bottom of my messages a long time ago. I forwarded the video and typed two lines.

Me: [Knox, Adrian and I broke up.]

Me: [He doesn’t love me. I don’t want to live anymore.]

Just as I expected, Knox Callahan didn’t reply.

Whether I lived or died didn’t seem to matter to him anymore, not since the day I’d pushed him down onto the bed.

He was a brother I’d picked up along the way, and he wasn’t even my real brother. Why would he care whether I lived or died?

Besides, that night, he’d glared at me like he wanted to rip me apart. He’d even threatened me. “Summer, I’m your brother! Get off me, Summer. Don’t make me…”

Then he left. He stumbled into his pants and his shirt, and he walked out on me for good.

I tossed my phone aside. Less than a minute later, I caved and picked it back up. After that, I couldn’t stop checking the screen every few seconds.

The more I checked, the clearer it got. Knox was the same Knox as ever, the one who could decide he was done with me and never look back.

I drank again. Once I was good and fuzzy, I worked up the nerve to FaceTime Knox. I knew he wouldn’t pick up, so I hung up after one ring. Then I quietly blocked him.

When Adrian came home, I’d already fallen asleep curled up on the couch, hugging a stuffed animal, my face streaked with tears.

He frowned and carried me to the bedroom, clicking his tongue on the way. “You like me this much? You cried yourself to sleep over me.”