The Rules of Regret by Megan Squires Read Free Book Online

more than my resolve, and I yanked my hand
back and secured it on the bark again.  
    “ I ’ ve got an even better one, ” Torin said as he bounced up and down
on the ropes. I felt the small vibration of his movement echoed in the tree and
I just about lost what was left of my lunch again. “ Pretend I ’ m the girl he cheated with. ”
    That
got my attention.
    I
tried to recover my surprised expression, but he took notice.
    “ He wasn ’ t that good anyway, ” Torin teased in a catty voice,
several octaves higher than his natural one. “ I just did it to make his girlfriend
jealous. ”
    Seriously,
what is he trying to accomplish with this?
    “ She ’ s all petite and quirky in a sort of
sexy way and goes to some Ivy League —”
    “ It ’ s a Pac-12 —” I interjected.
Wait, did he just say quirkily sexy?
    “— and I bet he ’ s only with her since they ’ ve been together since they were
like, what, twelve? ”
    “ Thirteen, ” I corrected. I knew he was doing
this to get me mad, and I hated that it slightly worked. Maybe they used
brainwashing at this camp as one of their techniques. I wouldn ’ t put it past them. I really should
have done more research.
    “ But if she ’ s really as important to him as she
thinks, then why is he here with me now? ”
    “ Because it ’ s his internship. ”
    “ It ’ s his job to go out every night and
hook up with random girls? ” Torin ’ s
voice resumed its low, natural tenor, like he wasn ’ t joking at all anymore.
      “ What
makes you think he ’ s
doing that? ” I bit down hard on my lip, feeling like Torin knew something I didn ’ t, though I knew that couldn ’ t be the case. I hated the insecurity
that took hold of me and made me question the current status of my relationship
with Lance.
    “ Does it make you angry to think that
it might be true? ”
    “ Of course it does, ” I said, relaxing my grip. “ But at you and not him. Because he ’ s not cheating. I have his heart. ”
    “ Well that sounds sweet and very young
love-ish and all, but he ’ s
a college guy in a city all the way across the country with no one holding him
accountable. In my book, that ’ s
the perfect recipe for cheating, and for getting away with it. And he doesn ’ t need to be in possession of his
heart to get into another girl ’ s
pants. Pretty sure that body part is not necessary. ”
    I
grit my teeth until they hurt. “ Lance
wouldn ’ t
do that because he ’ s
committed to me. We ’ re
committed to each other. ” And he was all I had. I ’ d
proven before that even if he wasn ’ t
100% committed, I wasn ’ t
about to let go of him. That wasn ’ t
in my plan.
    Torin
cupped his hand around his ear and leaned forward. “ What? I ’ m sorry, I couldn ’ t hear that. You ’ re going to need to come closer. ”
    I
totally got what he was doing here and I wasn ’ t about to be manipulated by his
attempts at trickery. I instead chose to just raise my voice. “ He ’ s committed to me, ” I repeated.
    “ You have to come closer. I ’ m having trouble hearing you. ”
    “ You ’ re a colossal ass! ” I said, megaphoning my mouth,
knowing full well he had no trouble hearing that .
The other counselors back at camp probably heard it ringing clearly through the
trees like a siren whistling in the distance. It was the first time I ’ d ever called a guy that, and it
actually felt kind of good in a way that doing something wrong oddly makes you
feel good.
    “ Maybe I am a colossal ass, but you ’ re the stubborn one. ” Torin walked two feet forward with
such confidence that you ’ d
think he were some species of monkey that grew up swinging between the
branches. “ So
tell me again how you know he ’ s
not cheating on you? ”
    “ Because I trust him, ” I admitted. And I did, or at least I
needed to.
    Torin
nodded. “ Meet
me halfway. ”
    “ What? ” I whipped my head his direction and
the end of my ponytail bit my cheek.
    “