My Best Friend’s Boyfriend
(A New Adult College Romance)
Just Friends Series
Book 3
by Camilla Isley
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright Pink Bloom Press, 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express permission in writing of the author.
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Dedication
To all best friends who are in love with the same person…
Contents
Dedication
One
Haley
Now
Two
Madison
Two Months Ago
Three
Madison
Four
Alice
Five
Haley
Six
Haley
Seven
Haley
Eight
Madison
Haley
Nine
Scott
Haley
Ten
Madison
Haley
Eleven
Haley
Scott
Twelve
Haley
Thirteen
Haley
Fourteen
Haley
Fifteen
Haley
Sixteen
Alice
Madison
Seventeen
Madison
Eighteen
Madison
Nineteen
Alice
Haley
Twenty
Haley
Twenty-one
Haley
Scott
Twenty-two
Haley
Twenty-three
Haley
Madison
Twenty-four
Haley
Twenty-five
Haley
Also by Camilla Isley
About the Author
Acknowledgments
One
Haley
Now
“I don’t have an umbrella,” Haley called, shouting to be heard over the rumbling summer storm. “Do you?”
“No,” David yelled back. “And I don’t care.”
He hurried past her out of the cover of the library porch and ran down the steps. When he reached the bottom, he tilted his face up and closed his eyes. In a matter of seconds, he was soaked.
“What are you doing?”
David looked at her from across the street, he was walking backward toward the center of Harvard Yard. “Come here. It’s only water.”
Haley didn’t know what possessed her, but she did as he asked. She ran off the porch and joined him in the middle of the park. The sensation of the rain on her skin was electrifying as she spun on her toes, arms opened wide. Haley looked upward and laughed and laughed, unable to stop—until she pirouetted right into David’s arms. The smile died on her lips as he caught her wrists and held her hands close to his chest, leaning his head down…
She tried to pull back, a ragged breath catching in her throat. “David, don’t.”
David’s lips brushed her forehead in a soft, wet kiss. “I wasn’t going to,” he whispered. “The next time we kiss, you’ll want to just as much as I do now…”
Two
Madison
Two Months Ago
Madison fled the room and closed the door behind her, pausing a moment in the hall to catch her breath. Her hand was still wrapped around the doorknob, and her rib cage bobbed up and down in panicked gasps. Tears blurred her vision, and her temples were exploding with a mix of fear, shame, and the first signs of a killer hangover. Now that she was alone, the enormity of what she’d almost done hit her in the chest, guilt stabbing at her heart. No, she didn’t have a second to spare thinking about the betrayal. Her number one priority was to get the hell out of her grandparents’ house.
The Smithson country mansion was a two-story building with ten plus bedrooms and a three-acre garden with a pool. Even if the property belonged to her grandparents, Madison and her cousins had basically grown up here. But now the familiar walls of the upper-floor hall seemed to be pressing in on Madison, ready to crush her in their wake.
No one was up here, save for the people in the room she’d just left. Madison let go of the handle as if burnt by an electric shock and stumbled down the hall. She hopped down the stairs, careful not to trip on the hem of her bridesmaid dress, and paused on the last step to check the ground floor. The gardens were swarming with wedding guests, but the house itself was empty except for a few servers scurrying in and out of the kitchen.
All clear.
Running as fast as her high heels would allow, Madison covered the distance from the bottom of the stairs to the main door in a blur of lavender silk. Then she was out. No one had seen her, no one had called after her.
Good.
She could have handled a random relative or a guest, but if she’d run into Alice, or worse, her mom, they would have seen right through her. And what if she’d run into Georgiana?
The thought made her shiver, making her walk across the front-yard-turned-parking-lot all the more difficult. Her spiky heels kept sinking into the fine white gravel, causing her to stumble with every step as she traipsed toward her car. Madison considered taking off her shoes, but she doubted walking barefoot on pebbles would prove any more comfortable.
A few more wobbly steps got her to her SUV. With trembling hands, she fished her car keys out of her clutch to unlock it, then collapsed into the driver’s seat. Only after hauling the door shut and putting a darkened window between her and the house did Madison finally feel safe.
She rested her head back against the seat, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breaths. When she’d calmed down enough to drive, she kicked off her shoes, threw them onto the passenger seat, and put the car into drive. But the row of cars parked in front was too close for her to get out. She maneuvered the car back and forward a few times, trying to steer it at an angle that would allow her to exit, but the SUV was too big.
Losing any composure she’d just tried to recover, Madison started screaming and crying, hitting the wheel in violent blows of desperation. Why did nothing in her life ever go according to plan?
“Why? WHY?” She kept shouting it over and over again. “WHY?”
When her throat began to hurt from the screaming, and her hands started to go numb from slamming her palms against leather-covered plastic, Madison instead gripped the wheel and desperately turned her head left and right in search of a solution. But she was one hundred percent trapped. What now? She couldn’t go back to the reception and seek out the cars’ owners. No, there were too many people on her “avoid-at-all-cost list” she didn’t want to risk bumping into: Ethan, Vicky, Rose, Alice, Tyler, Georgiana…
&nbs
p; With a sinking heart, Madison realized she’d never be able to show her face at another family gathering ever again. Later; she’d think about all that later. Now she had more pressing issues to solve. On a whim, Madison glanced at the rearview mirror—behind the SUV was nothing but spotless green grass and an intricate flower bed.
Well, sorry, Grandma, Madison thought as she switched the gear to reverse.
She hit the accelerator with enough force to jump up the curb separating the lawn from the gravel and reversed into the flower bed. Pushing the gear back to drive, she pressed her foot all the way down and the car screeched forward, leaving deep tire marks in its wake. Her grandparents’ otherwise pristine front garden, ruined. She’d never hear the end of it if they found out it had been her, but at the moment she was too frenzied to care. Half of the family already hated her, so why not start working on pushing away the half that still cared about her?
The drive home seemed to take forever. When Madison finally pulled up in front of her building, she was still feeling nauseous. The pounding at her temples had not stopped, and the stomach-churning anxiety gnawing at her guts had not passed. She parked the car in her reserved spot, killed the engine, grabbed her shoes and clutch, and got out of the SUV barefooted holding up the hem of her dress—without heels, the skirt was too long.
Halfway to her building, Madison stopped dead in her tracks. Jack Sullivan was sitting on the front steps with a forlorn expression—the look of someone who’d been waiting for a long time.
Perfect. Just freaking perfect!
If there was one person missing from Madison’s “avoid list” at the wedding, it seemed the dude had decided to show up at her place instead. Oh, he wasn’t here to see her—she knew that. Jack was here for Alice, her roommate. But the last thing Madison needed right now was to be reminded of another guy who’d used her for easy sex and then forgotten all about her. Of another time she’d been too quick to jump in bed with a dude she’d just met. Of another betrayal that had almost cost Madison one of her best friends.
Jack didn’t look like he was about to go away anytime soon, and Madison was too exhausted to wait for him to leave. She needed a shower, her bed, and a Xanax. Keys clutched tightly in her hands, she marched forward.
“Madison, hey,” Jack said, jumping up. “I was—”
“Leave me alone,” she replied. “I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Oh, okay.” He backed off a step. “Do you know when Alice will be home?”
“I said leave me alone!” Madison yelled, brushing past him and shoving her key into the lock. She let herself in, then slammed the door in Jack’s shocked face.
To hell with him, too.
In her room, she wrestled with the zipper to get out of the gown, threw the shoes in a corner, and headed to the bathroom for a hot shower. Thankfully, the apartment was empty. No one around to ask her what had happened or to demand an explanation for her shitty behavior, which she still didn’t begin to understand herself.
Yes, her life was a mess. Guys hated her, or used her and then threw her in the garbage once they’d had their fun. And her cousin Georgiana was the queen bee of bitches. But nothing can justify the fact that I almost slept with Georgiana’s husband on their wedding day.
Was it because she’d wanted revenge? Or was she just so pathetic that even the most insignificant flattery from a handsome man made her lose control of herself?
“What’s wrong with me?” Madison asked the empty bathroom.
She tried to wash away the shame and humiliation with the scorching water, rubbing her skin raw until it was all blotched and red. But no amount of scrubbing could cleanse the emotional stains off Madison’s conscience.
Wrapped in a towel, wet hair loose on her shoulders, Madison collapsed on the bed ready to forget she existed. Unfortunately, the world wasn’t as ready to forget her. Just as she was starting to doze off—thanks only to anti-anxiety drops—her phone rang. The muffled ringtone came from inside the clutch she’d dropped on the desk, only a few feet away from the bed but out of reach. Madison glared at the small bag, resentful someone had woken her when all she wanted was to be unconscious. She was pondering what would bother her more—to keep listening to the ringtone, or to get up and silence it—when the sound died on its own. Finally, something goes right for once.
But Madison had only just started getting cozy again on the pillows when the ringtone filled the room once more. This time, she dragged herself out of bed to find out who was calling.
Vicky.
Despite the way her cousin had reacted back at their grandparents’ house—preferring comprehension over judgment after walking in on her sister’s husband kissing a bridesmaid—Madison groaned. She stared at the phone still ringing in her hands, but couldn’t bring herself to answer. The shame was too much. No matter if Vicky was the most understanding person in the world, Madison wasn’t ready to talk to her. Filled with guilt, she let the call go unanswered, hoping her cousin would give up.
It didn’t happen. Nothing ever happened the way Madison wished it to. When Vicky called again, Madison let that call, too, go unanswered. Then she turned off her phone and sank back on the bed, finally sure nothing would distract her from the void of her existence.
At some point she dozed off, and she must have slept for a few hours, because when she woke up the sun was starting to set. Madison straightened up against the headboard, her neck sore from falling asleep on wet hair. She blinked, trying to clear her vision. A shiver ran through her entire body; the air conditioning in the apartment was set on a low temperature, and the towel she’d been wearing had almost entirely slipped off.
Madison rubbed her arms with her hands, then climbed out of bed and went to fetch a pair of clean PJs. She was just pulling on the bottom half when the buzzer rang. Had that been what had woken her up?
Gingerly, she shuffled through the living room to the entrance hall. Their building had video intercoms, and their camera showed a distressed Vicky fidgeting with the button. She was still wearing her bridesmaid dress—an exact replica of the lavender gown now adorning the floor of Madison’s room.
What now?
Madison didn’t want to talk to her, but Vicky must’ve been worried sick to rush all the way here as soon as the wedding had ended. I should have texted her to say I’d gotten home fine, but didn’t feel like talking, not left her hanging. Can I do anything right?
Well, there was no escape now. Vicky was here, probably wondering if Madison had died in a horrible car crash. Madison picked up the receiver just as the buzzer rang again.
“That’s my buzzer you’re abusing,” Haley’s voice drifted out of the intercom. “Can I help you?”
Madison’s eyes snapped to the small screen on the wall. Haley—her other roommate—had just walked into the frame, and was now talking to Vicky. The girls seemed unaware Madison could overhear them.
“Yeah, sorry,” Vicky said. “Hi. I’m Victoria Smithson, Madison’s cousin. I was looking for her.”
Haley gave Victoria a once-over. “Didn’t you see her at the wedding?”
“Yeah. But I wanted to make sure she got home okay.”
“Couldn’t you call?”
“Her phone is off,” Vicky said, looking annoyed. “Is there something wrong with me wanting to see my cousin?”
“No, of course not. It’s just that in the two years we’ve lived together, this is the first house visit any of her relatives have paid her. Odd, right? Especially since you’ve spent the entire day together.” Haley’s cold logic wasn’t missing a beat. “Did something happen?”
“No!” Vicky was too quick to say, and Madison could pick up Haley’s skeptical expression even on the tiny black-and-white screen. “I only wanted to check if she got home safe.”
“Well, her car is in our reserved spot.” Haley pointed to the side and then crossed her arms. “Doesn’t seem damaged in any way, so we can assume everything’s fine.”
“I’m sorry, but do you have something against me?” Vicky snapped. “Why can’t you just let me in?”
“It’s nothing personal, but don’t you think that if Madison wanted to talk to you she’d have her phone on? Or she would’ve let you in herself.” Haley turned toward the camera with a pointed look.
Instinctively, Madison took a step back. It was as if Haley was staring right at her through the screen.
“Listen, something did happen,” Vicky said. “It’s a family matter, and I can’t discuss it with you, but Madison and I need to talk.”
“Yeah, the problem is I can’t shake the feeling Madison is doing her best to avoid you. If something is bothering her, she can talk to me.”
“No!” Vicky yelled, frustrated. “She can’t talk about what happened with you.”
“Uh-oh, why not? Is she forbidden? She’s not a kid you can boss around, you know.”
Vicky stuttered something intelligible, her embarrassment bound to confirm Haley’s theory.
Madison’s roommate instantly went on the aggressive. “Aren’t you supposed to be the good cousin?”
“I am the good cousin…”
Madison couldn’t watch any longer. “It’s okay, Haley,” she said into the speaker. Both heads snapped toward the intercom. “Vicky is only trying to help.”
“Oh, Madison.” Vicky stepped so close to the camera that her face took over the entire screen. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t pick up the phone, I was too…” She couldn’t say, “Ashamed.” “Well, you know, I didn’t feel like talking.”
“Madison, you need to talk to someone,” Vicky insisted.
“Does it have to be you?”
Vicky turned sideways and looked at Haley. “You really stuck your neck out for my cousin.”
“She’s my best friend,” Haley said simply.
“Please take care of her tonight, and whatever she tells you, please keep it to yourself.”
“You can trust Haley,” Madison jumped in. “She won’t say anything.”
“Seems I’ve been outvoted,” Vicky sighed. “I’m going home, Madison. When you’re ready to talk, please call me, okay?”