Emily couldn’t help but laugh when she saw his text pop up on her phone.
“What kind of excuse do you even need?” she replied, fingers moving fast. “Did you really get into a fight?”
Tristan sent back a sheepish, “Yeah, I did.”
Before she could say anything else, another message from him flashed on her screen. “But it wasn’t really what I wanted. You know me. I’m usually pretty calm.”
“So what did you actually want?” she asked.
He hesitated, then typed, “I don’t really know yet. Give me a little more time. I promise I’ll figure it out soon. You won’t have to wait long.”
Emily laughed again, her voice light enough to make the driver glance at her in the rearview mirror.
Even if Tristan hadn’t said anything, Emily would have known exactly why he fought Andrew. Tristan had been bothered by Andrew for months, even before she and Tristan started dating. Back then, he already had it out for him.
Now that she and Tristan were together, and Andrew was still trying to worm his way back into her life, everything was different. If Tristan couldn’t tolerate Andrew before, there was no way he could put up with him now.
Of course he couldn’t. So he set up a meeting with Andrew, and ended up throwing the first punch.
She doubted Tristan was the only one at fault. Andrew was always good with words, always knew how to push people’s buttons. He probably picked up on Tristan’s jealousy right away. Sometimes words cut deeper than fists.
Emily figured that during their talk, Andrew must have hinted at something between himself and her, just enough to set Tristan off. That way, Andrew could act like the innocent one, the victim forced to defend himself.
Andrew was probably hoping this would cause trouble between her and Tristan, maybe make her doubt her boyfriend.
Too bad for him. Tristan might get hotheaded sometimes, especially when it came to her, and he’d fallen right into Andrew’s trap. But Emily was different. She’d been through enough to see past Andrew’s games.


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