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“Michelle?” He took a step closer, his voice softening “Will you go with me?”

Her lips tried to form the words no, but her heart wouldn’t let the would be so easy if only it wasn’t Joseph standing in front of her, looking at her like that It killed her She didn’t knohat to do There was only one thing she could do

She turned around and she ran

Chapter Eight

Joseph stu like jelly In his arn that he’d picked up for her He couldn’t believe she’d just turned tail and ran like that His heart had begged her to choose hi for him, too But she’s just stared at hi And now, she was nowhere to be seen

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he grumbled to himself

An old wo a display of jellies looked up at hiy and pushed past her He needed to find Michelle Make this right Tell her he had a lapse of judg to make it better

He wished he could take it all back The festival, the parade, the carnival, and even bu to be the biggestto Michelle’s plan? He’d been into her for as long as he could re different and beautiful

As a kid, he used to leave flowers in her lunch box, hoping she’d like theh school, he’d been too nervous to even speak to her, let alone ask her out He’d watched her fro off jerks who found her in their radar Protecting her

It was always clear that she had feelings for Garret His biggest fear was going after her, only to have his brother go after her as well He knew even then he would lose out That Michelle would choose Garret over him So he’d stayed away

He thought those feelings for her had long since faded, but the last two days had brought the with his inability to maintain his cool around her He’d practically ordered her to forget his brother and take hiuy did that? A jerk, that ho A jerk who threw his own little brother under the bus

Scrubbing his face with his hand, he leaned against the wall of the shed and mentally berated himself He should’ve known better Michelle had been in love with Garret forever She didn’t want him

She didn’t love him

“Hey bro, you seen Michelle?” Garret ca up, his Coke in hand

He had the careless and free vibe that o crazy for hi woman in the world to the Harvest Ball and he wasn’t even breaking a sweat Joseph had never been envious of his little brother until now And boy, did his heart hurt with the weight of that jealousy