Mated To My Obsessive Stepbrother

Chapter 235

"You're wrong, Kasmine. He actally did. He led me on. And I don't think what he did after that is fair, she said.

I stared at her.

And for a second, I swear I thought I hadn't heard her right.

Kester? My Kester?

Led Claire on?

Claire stood still after those words. She looked like she was done hiding whatever had been eating her up all morning.

I stared at her, heart beginning to thump weirdly. "What do you mean he led you on?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. "Like... are you saying he flirted? What-what are you even talking about?"

She laughed under her breath, but it wasn't funny. Not even a little. Her arms folded across her chest like she needed to physically hold herself together.

"You remember that date I told you about?" she said, not looking at me. "The one where I said the guy was cold... barely looked at

me and never called back?"

nodded slowly, unsure where this was going, but my pulse had started to

guy was. And she had come back from it looking crushed, and I'd told her the guy sounded like an asshole not worth remembering. "Well,"

My ears rang.

"What?"

at that exquisite restaurant off Silvergate Avenue. I didn't even know how to act. I thought maybe-maybe he had

someone had kicked a wall inside my chest, and I

told me," I whispered, mostly to

kept going. "He ghosted me after that night. I cried like a fool for days. But then..." She paused and pulled out her phone, flicking it open. "He started texting me again. Out of the blue. A few days later. And then

he just needed time. Maybe he was warming up. But then... just like that, he went back to being the same cold-hearted asshole. No texts. No calls. Like those nights meant nothing to him. Like

to say. My throat felt like

Kester.

My own Kester.

1/2

Chapter 235

anything about it to

in the eye anymore. I stared down at the shoes

suddenly felt stupid and

7

my chest.