Unloved (The Undone, #2)

by Peyton Corinne

He’s got those smile lines that cut his cheeks like carvings in marble, glittering emerald eyes as he grins wider and invades my space.

I reach over and pull the last few clips from her hair, tucking them into my pocket, before gathering her curls up into my hands, piling them high on her head, and carefully tying the shoelace around them to keep them out of her eyes.

“I think you’d be really easy to love,” she says. It’s a lax, whispered compliment, one she doesn’t know sounds like a gunshot in my head, hitting me straight in the chest.

There’s a pencil pressed to her lips, and she rolls it mindlessly across them before tap tap tapping it on her mouth. It’s distracting enough that I stop for a moment and watch her.

“If you were my girlfriend, Rosalie,” he says, his voice deep and rough. My full name is like warm honey dripping from his lips. “You wouldn’t have to do anything to convince me. Just a fucking smile and I’d be a goner, okay?”

I even stop to grab an iced dirty chai and a black iced coffee for myself—as if bringing her a treat might soften the blow of her disappointment once I show her the test results.

“Iced dirty chai. That’s what you like, right?” She looks so confused and mildly upset that a bolt of panic shoots through me. “Did I get it wrong? I’m sorry. I’ll buy you something else at—” She cuts me off. “No, no, no, it’s my favorite. I can’t believe you remembered. Thank you, Matt.”

My given name feels like a warm blanket falling over me as it rolls off her tongue.

I make a vow then to protect her, the pretty girl with butterflies in her messy curls, even if she’ll never really be mine.

“Do you want to watch your movie?” “My movie?” she asks, brows furrowed and mouth full enough that the words mush together, almost incomprehensible. Her blush is immediate as she chews—mouth sealed tight—and swallows.

“I downloaded it for my next away game. Figured I could watch it on the bus. I fell asleep the other night, so I didn’t finish it.”

“It’s okay to miss her, you know. And to cry about it. I cry about missing my parents all the time, and they’re just far away.”

Her words feel like a hug and I lean into it, meeting her gaze with my reddened eyes, not trying to hide or joke around this moment.

Bennett whispers, “Go back to her,” so quietly I can barely hear him.

“Yeah.” I nod, smiling softly up at him. “You’d never want to even chance letting someone down. You… you always show up.”

There’s a hitch in his breath, and if I didn’t know him better—the fact that I’m sure everyone has complimented him enough to last a lifetime—I’d say he’s yearning to hear the words. They wash over him like water on a sunflower.

“You remind me of her sometimes, especially when you teach me. I think you’re amazing and… and I hope you think you’re amazing, too.”

I think I’m in love with her—not even romantically, but on some soul level. I feel devoted to her.

“Don’t listen to a single thing they said. You’re so smart and kind and I’m proud of you, so… So screw them! You’re better than all of them anyway, Matty. Smarter, too.”

Matty. It pours over my skin like warmth and comfort. Home.

And I definitely, definitely didn’t want Walker fucking Taylor—the football hotshot with a last name for a first name, and a first name for a last name—all over my goddamn tutor.

“Ro,” he croaks, a sad smile marring his perfect features. “You’re breaking my heart, princess.” Another kiss to my temple. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me—”

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers into my ear before darting back to give me a light, dopey smile that’s all softness and zero flirt.

He peeks up at me, a few speckles of green looking like freckles under his eyes, and a beautiful smile spreads across his full lips.

“I just want to hold you. Just for tonight, please.”

“I need you to talk to me, princess.”

Loving Rosalie Shariff would be the easiest thing I’ve ever done—I know, because I’m already doing it. I think I’ve loved her since the day she stood up for me in that conference room. As a friend first, something I’ve never had, but now it’s more.

I think loving you would be the greatest thing in my life.

Be mine. Let me call you my girlfriend, not just my friend. I’ll be so fucking good to you.

“I miss my mom.” I keep my crying silent as I grieve for the woman I’ll never know, and the boy she loved more than life. The boy I know she’d be proud of, even if he doesn’t know it. I’ll take care of him, I vow to her silently. I promise.

“I think you are one of the best people I’ve ever known. And I think it would be almost too easy to fall in love with you.”

“Matt,” I say, cutting her off. “Nice to meet you both.” Usually, it’s Freddy. I prefer that only Ro calls me Matt or Matty—with the exception of Archer. But I know how much easier Matt will be for her father to say. I want him to feel comfortable around me. I want him to like me.

“Matty.” He steps forward, putting a hand to my neck. “I love you like you’re my own son. And I will always, always be here for you. If you want me.”

“Do you how much you tortured me last semester? How often I had to go home before my practices, barely making it to the rink, because I needed to jack off after watching your mouth as you chewed on that fucking pencil during our tutoring sessions?”

“I’m your Grandpa Ace. And I love you very much.”

I know my mom is gone. But she is here, in me. In my softness with Ro. In Archer’s love of me. In Elsie’s vibrant green eyes. I can feel her everywhere, even when I’m not looking for her.