“I know.” She sighed. “But he’s not always like that. You don’t see him when it’s just us. He’s really sweet most of the time.”

“That doesn’t make up for it—”

“It’s only when he’s around his friends,” she said, cutting me off. “I think he’s just a little insecure or something.”

“You realize how crazy that sounds, right?” I asked incredulously. “You’re saying he puts you down because he feels bad about himself? You’re okay with that?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“It’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be,” she said softly as we heard the guys come back inside. “Who’s the dramatic one now?”

I opened my mouth to argue but snapped it shut again when she looked nervously over her shoulder. She clearly didn’t want Sean to overhear our conversation.

“Hey, beautiful,” Alex murmured, coming up behind me as I set a clean pan on the countertop. “You ready to go?”

I let out a quiet sigh of relief and nodded, drying off my hands with a kitchen towel. I really hadn’t wanted to be the one to cut the night short, and Alex was giving me the perfect out.

“We’re going to head home,” I told Hailey, giving her a tight hug. “Thank you for dinner. It was delicious.”

“Thanks for coming,” she replied quietly, squeezing me back. “Next time we’ll come to your house, yeah?”

I nodded, even though I knew that would never happen in a hundred lifetimes. Hailey was always welcome, but I didn’t want Sean in my space.

I followed Alex toward the front door, and when we stopped to grab our coats off the couch, Sean started whining.

“Man, you guys are leaving already?” he asked. “It’s early still.”

“Sarai has to work in the morning,” Alex said, resting his hand on my back.

“Hell, so do we,” Sean replied.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Alex replied. “Bye, Hailey.”

“Thanks for coming, Alex,” she called back from the kitchen.

“You guys’ll have to come over again soon,” Sean said as he stood up. “Don’t worry—we’ll order takeout next time.” He chuckled, and I wanted to punch him.

“Yeah, maybe,” Alex said, steering me out of the house before I could say anything.

*  *  *

The ride back to my apartment was silent.

I was so angry and sad for my friend that I wanted to cry. Why did Hailey stay? Why did she try to justify the way he treated her? I didn’t understand any of it.