Ditching Me for His 'Soulmate'? His Loss. Next Stop: My New Life novel Chapter 3

“You really don’t care, do you? I was out all night–not one text from you! Everyone else’s phones were going off, their girlfriends calling them to come home, and I’m just sitting there like an idiot!”

I’d been dead asleep and now I was pissed. “You’re an adult with your friends. Why would I be worried? I trust you. It’s late, go to sleep.”

Before, whenever he hung out with Felicity, I’d lose my shit. Even if I reluctantly agreed to it, I’d be texting and calling nonstop the whole time.

And Garrett had snapped at me once: “Can you not act like my mom? I don’t have to report every little thing to you!”

Now, he just stood there frozen. Three seconds later, he suddenly grabbed me as I was

about to lie back down. “We need to talk.”

I looked at him, exhausted.

He took a deep breath. “That Instagram post was just a group hangout thing, nothing more.

Don’t read into it.”

I kept nodding. “Got it.”

His eyes flashed with frustration. “Why won’t you talk to me? You’re still upset about Felicity? Look, she’s part of the group. We dated, yeah, but it’s over. If it bugs you that

much, I’ll bring you next time.”

I nodded like crazy. “Okay, I get it. But I’m really tired. Can I please just sleep?”

Garrett went quiet. He sighed, then moved toward the bed. I literally jumped. “What are you doing?!”

He froze, then shot me this ice–cold look before storming out and slamming the master

Chapter 3

bedroom door.

After that interruption, I was worried I’d have trouble falling back asleep, but thank God–within minutes of my head hitting the pillow, I was out again.

The next day, my coworkers wanted to throw me a going–away party before I left for Berlin.

They were so hyped about it, I couldn’t say no.

What I didn’t expect was running into Garrett and his coworkers during a bathroom break–and Felicity was right there glued to his side.

Garrett really goes all out for Felicity. Even brings her to company dinners.

I realized I didn’t feel jealous or upset at all. Just kinda amazed that if I’d figured this out sooner, I could’ve saved myself so much pain.

Felicity saw me and gave me this smug little smile.

“Oh Peyton! You’re here?… Oh, I know this looks weird, but I’ve been so bored here lately. Garrett just brought me along to his work thing.”

Garrett’s coworkers knew me, and right now they all looked pretty uncomfortable, shooting

weird looks at Felicity.

I just said “mm–hmm” and headed back to my own room.

Right after I sat down, I got a text from Garrett.

[I don’t usually bring her to work things. Just this once]

Well duh. Felicity doesn’t even live here most of the time.

[I know this looks bad. Won’t happen again]

Whether it looks bad or not isn’t my problem anymore.

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The next few messages were more of the same. The last one asked what time I’d be

done–he wanted to leave together.

I put my phone back in my bag and didn’t reply.

Everyone was eating, drinking, laughing–the vibe was awesome. Later on, someone raised

their glass with a grin. “So Peyton’s gonna come back from Berlin as Director Hayes, right?”

I cracked up. “Oh please. I’ll probably come back and you’ll be my boss.”

Everyone cracked up.

When we wrapped up and I stepped out, I found Garrett standing there with red eyes,

staring at me.

Felicity was next to him, hanging on his arm, shooting daggers at me.

Garrett ignored Felicity completely. His voice shook. “You’re going to Berlin?”

Chapter 4