by Allie Faye
Chapter 19
Conleigh
I wake up to the sound of hangers moving furiously on the rack. I peel back my eyelids reluctantly as my body protests, in desperate need of more sleep. My eyes flutter demanding more sleep.
I crack one eye open as I struggle for coherency. Ezra is here.
“What time is it?” I croak.
“Early. I just needed to grab some of my stuff. Go back to sleep,” he says, all without turning to look at me.
My jaw hurts as I go to rub my eyes. The night before comes rushing back at me. Ezra. Holden. Wren. Men are jerks and right now, I think I hate them all.
“Where did you sleep last night?” I ask, not sure why I care or why I am bothering with speaking to him.
“The office,” he grunts in response.
I watch as he starts packing up a bag, and I feel guilty when I shouldn’t, but this was his place well before it was mine. I’m the one who should be finding a new residence. I wish I could afford an apartment of my own. I don’t want to go back to the dorms either though. I’m sure as fuck not going to live with my mom.
I don’t know what I’m doing. “Ezra, you don’t have to do that. This is your home. I plan to find my own place. Just—we can both sleep here until we figure things out, okay?”
“No, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“It’s fine. I promise,” I tell him weakly. Once upon a time I loved this man. He was my best friend and things are happening so fast I don’t know which way is up. “Right now, I think we could both use a friend.”
He laughs dryly. “A friend.”
“Why not?” I shrug as I get out of bed. I go over to him and put my head on his shoulder, missing the way this once had made me feel—safe.
He exhales. “Okay.” He turns to face me and strokes my sore cheek. “I’m a lousy shit.”
“Yeah, you are, but we both pretty much suck at the moment.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Con.”
I did but he doesn’t know that. I should tell him, but I won’t. I can’t. The words hang on the tip of my tongue.
I change the subject. “So, who is Wren to Holden?”
“His brother.”
“And Reese?” I press.
“His wife.”
“Wren’s?” I ask, hopeful. I have this terrible sinking feeling in my stomach as Ezra studies me.
“Holden’s. It’s a long story and not mine to tell. Its fucked up, but Reese and Holden were together from junior high until his freshmen year of college. He married her right out of high school. Wren’s band started gaining popularity and well…Reese was their manager and when they hit the road, so did she.”
Wow. “So…um her and Holden are still married?”
“As far as I know. Why the sudden interest?”
“I’m not really. Just curious. Wren said he was going to be staying here for a few weeks.”
“Really?” Ezra appears skeptical.
I nod, and he shakes his head, muttering, “Whatever. Just steer clear, it’s a bomb waiting to go off. I have to get to work. I guess I will see you later.”
“Yeah. Later.”
Once he has gone, I flop back on the bed and groan when I see the clock reads six am. I’m tired as hell but there is no way I can go back to sleep now. As much as I want nothing more than to curl up in a ball and forget the world for a while longer, I know I need to apologize to Holden for puking on his floor.
I find Wren asleep on the living room floor behind the couch.
The dining room table is littered with beer cans and liquor bottles. It smells like smoke in here also.
I can’t help but wonder if Reese stayed with Holden last night and if she is here for him? Did she come back for him? I can’t believe he’s married. Married as in he has a wife. A beautiful wife at that. But Ezra also said she left him. I want to be angry that Holden never told me he was married, but why would he have. It isn’t like we were close friends who talked and shared our deepest secrets with one another.
We slept together. He confessed his supposed feelings for me then I told him I needed space. Now look where we are.
The scent of freshly brewed coffee attracts me to the kitchen. Reese is leaning against the counter drinking a cup out of my favorite mug. I want to rip it from her hands and shatter it against the wall, but I don’t. I pretend she’s not staring a hole through me and grab Holden’s mug out of spite. I shouldn’t be so petty I suppose. I don’t know their history. I don’t know why she’s here but won’t ask her that very question either even though I want to.
“You’re up early,” she muses over the brim of my GOT mug that says, Winter is coming.
I offer a very weak smile.
“I guess you are wondering why I’m here? You’re Ezra’s girlfriend?” Her brow arches like that of an evil villain in a Disney cartoon.
“Nope.” I pop the p and take a glorious sip of caffeinated heaven.
“Not very talkative, are you?”
“Nope,” my reply is short, and I turn away to go get in the shower, taking my coffee with me. I’m afraid of what I will give away if I say anything else to her.
“What happened to your face? You smack the floor or something?”
“I tripped,” I call over my shoulder and remind myself to wear makeup today.
————
After taking an Uber to university and meeting with my advisor and deciding to take a deferment I find myself back at The Grill to open with Waylon. When I walk in there is a baby on the bar in a carrier. “Well, hello there, little one,” I coo, but not getting too close. I know some people are weird about strangers and newborns. “Who’s this?”
“This is my daughter, Taitlyn.” Pride seeps from him as he smiles down at his baby girl.
“How old is she?” I take a seat at the bar a stool away from her.
“Five and a half weeks. My wife, Missy had a doctor’s appointment, but she’ll be back to pick her up in an hour,” he explains.
“She’s beautiful,” I tell him, although truthfully, she is making a weird face and making a bit of a grunting sound.
Glancing around, I search for signs of Cheryl. “Is it just us?”
“Missy will be returning to work once Tait is two months old. Cheryl is off today but chicken George will be in about noon to man the kitchen. I’m sure Holden will make an appearance at some point.”
I nod unable to suppress my smile at Cheryl’s confirmed absence.
Then the god-awful smell of death assaults my nose and I now know why the baby was making that face along with the noises.
“I don’t suppose you do diapers?” Waylon asks, hopeful.
“Wishful thinking, buddy, but no.”
“Right.” He grabs a bag from under the counter and proceeds to carry his daughter to one of the tables.
My nose crinkles as he gets down to his fatherly duty.
“Is there anything I should be doing?”
Waylon shrugs. “Nah, not unless someone comes in. I’m not entirely sure why he had you come in today.”
With nothing to do, I go to a booth and settle in. I take out my notebook and work on the outline for my book.
There was a curveball Miranda hadn’t seen coming. Bryant had a past. He was harboring a dark secret. One that would wrack her to her core. He was already taken. His heart stolen by someone when he was just a boy. He hadn’t gotten his heart back yet and until he did, Miranda would never fully be his nor he hers. There was one problem among many that stood out to her. It coiled under her breasts, and weaved its tail through her ribs, cracking them as it constricted her bones. The monstrous thought clawed at her heart. What if Bryant didn’t want his heart back? What if he loved this other woman? What if he wanted to go back to his wife?
The door chimes and pulls me from my heavy thoughts. I look up to see a pretty woman smiling as she walks toward the bar where Waylon is swaying from side to side with his baby cradled in his arms. This
must be Missy. She’s a petite woman with dark features, heavy lashes, and wide hips.
“How was your appointment?”
“It went great. I have the all clear to return to work.” I don’t miss the pout on her lips.
“We’ve talked about this. If there was a way you could stay home full time, I’d give anything to make that happen, but even with me working two jobs, we can’t afford it.”
“I know.” She sighs, and he steps around the counter to hand the baby to her awaiting arms.
I feel awkward listening to such a private conversation, but it isn’t as though I can abstain from listening.
“Oh, Babe. This is Conleigh.” Waylon waves a hand in my direction and I smile.
“Hello. Lovely to meet you. I hope my husband isn’t giving you a rough time.”
“Not at all.” I wave dismissively. “You have a beautiful baby.”
“Thank you.” She turns her attention back to him and gives him a soft peck on the lips. “We will see you at home. Don’t be too late. Tell Holden, I’d prefer you home before two am.”
He grins at her. He attempts to drop his voice down low, but I can still hear what he says to her. “You want me home, so I can pay worship to that pussy that’s been without my attention for far too long.”
“Way!” She averts her eyes as her cheeks flame in embarrassment.
My cheeks redden as well but I think it is sexy and sweet that he talks to her like that. I look down at my notes pretending I didn’t hear their exchange.
“Hey, Conleigh. Hold down the fort, I’m going to see them out.”
“No problem. Take your time.”
I get up from my spot and decide I had better start doing something to earn my pay.
Chapter 20
Holden
It’s been days since I slept with my best friend’s girlfriend. It’s been days since I’ve slept at all. Conleigh, her name leaves a bittersweet taste on my tongue. I can still taste her on my lips and I wonder can she still feel me between her thighs. How does she do it? How does she lay next to him at night with me across the hall, knowing she would rather be lying next to me? Knowing that he will never make her feel the way that I do…alive.
I don’t know what he said to her to get her to ignore the fact that he’s a cheating slimeball. I don’t know what she’s trying to prove. Unless he was right. She got even with him and now she can move on and continue to live in denial. Is it his money? I want to believe that I know Conleigh better than that. I want to believe that she’s better than that.
I feel as though I have been on a weeklong bender but instead of being drunk from the alcohol, I’m drunk on her. Every day she gives me a weak half-hearted smile and shows up at the bar to work as though nothing has changed between us. I told her I could pretend it never happened but I lied. How can I forget the one night, the best night of my life that has ever actually meant something to me?
I know she isn’t fucking him, I lay awake every night listening like some sort of sick perverted weirdo, making sure he isn’t having what should be mine. Making sure she isn’t doing to him what she should be doing to me. I’ve played my part. I lied for her and told Ezra that she wasn’t at the apartment when he came home that night. I even drove her to Bailey’s dorm myself once Ezra passed out in a drunken haze. I even made the sorry bastard breakfast the next morning with his girl’s claw marks fresh on my back and he didn’t even notice, or if he did, he pretended not to see them.
Does he know the dirty things I want to do to the woman he plans on marrying? Does he know I want to lay her out on my bed and cover every centimeter of her skin with my cum like a crazed lunatic? Does he notice that I am always watching her, begging her to just fucking look at me like she did when I was buried deep inside her.
She doesn’t look at me often and when she does it cuts just like a knife because there is something wrong. She looks dead inside.
I’ve been trying to give her space, trying to keep my distance but I can’t keep going on like this. I don’t only want her…I need her.
I try to keep busy down in my workshop and at the bar, but I can’t stop from thinking about her. I can’t help but wonder if she’s thinking about me too. Does she really love him that much?
When I made love to her, I could feel it. We share a deep connection—a love like no other. She’s my best friend’s girl but she was meant to be mine.
There’s just one problem. Reese. My bitch of a wife. She shouldn’t still even be given that title. We haven’t seen each other in years. No, she has been off living the high life with my fuckwad brother, Wren. I thought I loved her. Damn did I want to give her everything. She wanted everything alright just not with me.
Now she’s back after what seems like a lifetime and she wants a second chance. Says she is done with life on the road and wants to settle down and get back the time we lost. I admit that it’s a tempting offer, but I lost what love I held for Reese a long time ago.
She bent the hell out of my heart. Left a huge fucking dent, and I decided after she left that I would never open that part of me up again, but then Conleigh fucking happened. I tried so damn hard to ignore my pull to her. I told myself it was for the best she was with Ezra, but then I knew what he was doing behind her back. What had probably been done to me a thousand times by Reese and with my own brother no doubt. Then she willingly came to me and we shared a beautiful moment where nothing else existed but us. Our hot bodies on my cool sheets. Her heart beating wildly for me. Her sweat mixing with mine as though we were meant to always be one.
It was like a dream, one I never wanted to end. Then reality came crashing back down. Conleigh didn’t know what she wanted and the next day when I should have been fighting for her heart, I was slapped in the face with a visit from my past. My brother had returned, and he had brought hell home with him.
I look up from wiping down the bar when I feel a pair of eyes on me. Bailey. What in the hell is she doing here?
“Can I talk to you?”
“You want to have a conversation with me? Won’t I kill your brain cells or something if I get too close?”
She shakes her head with a grin. “Ha ha, very funny. It’s about Conleigh.”
“Okay, I’ll bite.” I take a few beers from behind the counter and show her to a table near the middle of the room, so I can keep an eye on the bar. It’s a slow day but there are a few regulars hanging around.
She takes a seat across from me and I offer her a beer. She shakes her head no but offers a timid no thanks.
I shrug and pop the cap off a bottle. “Suit yourself.”
“I know about the two of you…” she starts, and I stop her.
“Let me guess, you are here to cut my nuts off and tell me to stay away.”
“Actually, I am here to ask you why you are sitting back and letting Ezra win?”
I nearly spit out my beer. “You want me with Conleigh? You hate me.” I cock a brow at her wondering what in the hell is going on. I must have entered an alternate reality.
“I wouldn’t call it hate. A strong dislike but that is only because you wounded my pride.” She shrugs when I chuckle. “I’m a vain girl who has always gotten her way and you didn’t want me. You never looked at me the way you look at her and I was jealous. I was a bitch. I’m sorry. I should have set my pride aside, so you could be together. I suck.”
“Could have fooled me,” I crack at her and she glares at me. I tug on my beard. “So, I assume you have a plan to help me, right?”
“I uh…actually I was hoping you had it covered since you are such a charmer and all.” She smiles at me and it’s a genuine smile. I think this is the realest this chick has ever been around me.
“I don’t know what to do. I put it all out there to her. She knows how I feel. What more can I do?”
“You gotta fight for her. Conleigh is terrified after the shit with her dad growing up and her mom’s marriage to Ronald is a joke, but it’s what she knows. Ezra is just like
her step-dad. You my friend are a wildcard.”
“So, we’re friends now huh?”
“Stop being a dick for five seconds. I am trying to help you.”
“What’s in it for you? Why do you care so much whether she ends up with me or Ezra?”
“She’s my best friend. I screwed up and she shouldn’t be with that asshole.”
“I agree with you there.” I take a last pull from my bottle and ask, “Now what?”
“Now you give her hell. Don’t let a minute go by without letting her know you aren’t going anywhere. I didn’t figure you for a guy who gives up so easily on something he wants…someone he loves.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“We all have our gifts.” She grins, twirling a blonde curl around her finger.
I shake my head and let out a sigh. Then I knock back that second beer. Conleigh Meyers will be the death of me.
Chapter 21
Holden
Back at the apartment, my brother is laying on my couch and eating my food while drinking my beer. “How long you plan on being here, man?” I ask, kicking his foot off my coffee table. He’s nothing but fucking trouble. I don’t need his brand of bullshit, but he’s all I got. I won’t turn him away. I forgave him a long time ago for this shit with Reese. If she truly loved me she wouldn’t have done the things she did.
He makes a face and sits up. “I’m looking for a place. Rent here isn’t as cheap as it used to be. Hell, you could clean out that office and offer me the room.”
“I could, but I don’t want you here.” I slap a newspaper at his chest. “There’s a few advertisements. If you get off your ass, maybe you can go view them.”
He blows out a frustrated breath.
“Why are you here?”
“I told you. I need to get back to my roots, Hold. I lost my way.” He rubs a tired hand over his face and starts flipping through the paper.
I make my way to the kitchen and find Conleigh and Ezra sitting at the table together looking at cars on a laptop.
