The Third Best Thing (Fulton U, #3)

by Maya Hughes

Berk sat on my front steps. Once he saw me, he stood up. He knew. Why else would he be here waiting? His gaze was trained on me like he was seeing me with new eyes. I couldn’t face him right now. “Can we talk later?” Like the scaredy cat I was, I scurried up the steps, bypassing him, and shoved my key into the door lock. “Did you write the letters?” “Berk, can we talk about this later?” My heart attempted a speedy exit from my throat. I opened the door. “No, we need to talk about this now.” He wrapped his fingers around my arm, holding me in place. “LJ showed me some post saying you were The Letter Girl.” Which meant he’d most likely seen everything else everyone had said. “Yes, it was me.” Turning slowly like I was walking toward my executioner, I faced him, only meeting his gaze for a split second. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why’d you lie to me?” He raised his voice. “Because I couldn’t open myself up to all this.” People stopped along the street to watch the show. He looked behind him and stepped forward, shielding me and corralling me into the house. The door closed behind us and I was trapped inside with him. “Jules, look at me.” I couldn’t. The tears were back. They prickled at the backs of my eyes and I blinked to try to keep