The Guy in the Middle (The Underdogs, #3)

by Kate Stewart

“What if this moment, right here, is the moment that changes your life?”

“She’s a six at most, why are you wasting time with a six?” “Add five to that.” “What?” “She’s my eleven.”

“You know you gave me…,” I breathe through the pain, “you gave me a love story, a real love story, even if it doesn’t have the ending I was hoping for.”

She’s light, and you can’t hide light, you can’t hold it and keep it. It’s unattainable. And maybe that’s what Harper is for me—a light I can’t keep.

I’m a man standing in the wake of lost love, bitterness in my heart, and singed beyond anything I can control. I was supposed to have left her there, in that apartment, in that city, but she’s been with me the whole time, and her sudden appearance is only worsening the fact—I can’t get over this damned woman.

“You see, my love, it’s a cruel world without you in it.” His face falls as I lift, so my truth hits his lips. “My leaving had little to do with dancing, despite what I promised myself. I wanted your love so much more than the look on your face right now. But what you just did to me…” I lift my chin in defiance, showing him his mirror, “makes you the bully.” All the fight leaves me as I utter my defeat, “no longer worthy of this ugly girl’s love.”