Too Pretty to Be Your Backup novel Chapter 17

Mateo stared at Travis, honestly taken aback by his attitude.

“Wait, you’re actually serious right now?” he blurted out.

Travis didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he just kept tossing back his drink, one shot after another, the tension rolling off him in waves.

Mateo couldn’t believe it. Travis, the guy who always seemed untouchable, was getting wasted over a girl?

He let out a low laugh. “Travis, we’ve been friends for years, so let me give you a little advice. Don’t catch feelings for Amanda. She says she’s done, so let her go. Trust me, if you hold on-”

Travis‘ hand paused mid–air, his glass halfway to his lips.

These past few days, Amanda had given him nothing but cold looks and sharp words. Travis had thought about letting her go more than once. He was used to standing at the very top, always proud and unreachable. Girls came and went in his life. If Amanda left, he could always find someone new.

But for some reason, he just couldn’t do it. The idea of really letting Amanda go hit him like a punch to the gut, making it almost impossible to breathe. It was suffocating.

Like she was the air he needed to live.

For the first time, Mateo actually felt sorry for Travis.

“If you really care about Amanda,” Mateo said quietly, “then you’re in trouble, man. Honestly, from where I’m standing, you never loved her. You never even cared. When you said she was breaking up with you, my first thought was that you should be relieved. You should feel free.”

Amanda had poured so much into Travis–her time, her feelings, her whole heart. She loved him so much it almost hurt to watch. And Travis just acted like it didn’t matter at all.

Sometimes even Mateo felt bad for Amanda, seeing how much she gave and how little she got back.

But Travis had always been impossible to reach. Cold as ice. No wonder things had fallen apart. Even the warmest heart can only take so much before it cools off.

Calling off the engagement was just the final straw.

Honestly, Mateo was amazed Amanda had lasted seven years trying to warm up a guy as emotionally clueless as Travis. That kind of stubbornness deserved a spot in the record books.

Everyone in their circle had always treated Amanda like a joke.

But now? It was starting to feel like the joke was on Travis.

Somehow, Mateo realized, Travis actually had feelings for her. If that was true, well… good luck to

him.

Amanda was stubborn to the core. She’d spent seven years loving Travis with everything she had. She didn’t make threats she didn’t mean.

So if Amanda said she wanted out–she meant it.

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Chapter 17

Travis kept drinking, downing glass after glass. He didn’t know how to explain any of it. Didn’t even know where to start.

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