Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
“There is no we, Brayden. Not anymore. There can’t be.”
I heard the sadness in his voice. “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant what can I do to help? But…”
“But what?”
“Is this really the end for us?”
“You used to date my daughter, Brayden! You slept together!”
“It was a lifetime ago.”
“It doesn’t matter if it was a hundred years ago. It happened, and no amount of time can take that back. This is what being a parent is. You have to put your child first.”
He blew into the phone. “Will you come on Thursday again this week? So we can talk?”
“I’m not sure I can come back at all, Brayden.”
“But…”
Tears filled my eyes. “I need to go. I pulled over at a gas station to call you, and I don’t want to get home too late after Caitlin, in case she drops by or something.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll let you know whether I’ll be back at Ryan’s House.”
“Okay. But I hope you come back.”
“Goodbye, Brayden.”
“Be careful driving.”
I swiped my phone off just as my tears spilled over. I hadn’t cried yet, but suddenly I couldn’t turn off the waterworks. My shoulders shook as I sobbed and sobbed. It felt like my heart had been split in half. I wanted to turn my car around, drive back to the hotel, jump into Brayden’s arms, and let him tell me everything was going to be alright. But it wouldn’t be. That wasn’t real. It was just a fantasy.
Maybe that’s what thinking things could work out with Brayden had been from the start—a fantasy.
***
“That…” Wells twirled his pointer finger, motioning to my face. “…had better be a look of exhaustion from banging all night, not from tossing and turning because of pent-up sexual frustration.”
My eyes filled with tears as I stood across from him Monday morning at work.
Wells’s face changed, and he pulled me into a hug. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t look that bad. Stop being so sensitive. Plus, we can do a laser eye treatment for those bags.”
I sniffled, pulling back from Wells. “Brayden and me—it’s over. We can’t see each other anymore.”
“Why? What happened?”
“He…used to date Caitlin.”
Wells blinked twice. “Come again?”
I shook my head. “I know. It’s crazy. But Caitlin showed up to surprise me at the hotel this weekend, and it turns out the two of them know each other. They dated for a while in college. For months actually. She was supposed to bring him on a family ski trip even, but it wound up getting canceled.”
“Holy shit.”
“I know.”
“Damn, you two really do have the same taste. Remember that time you showed up at Richard’s office party in the same dress?”
I closed my eyes. “You’re not making me feel any better.”
“Sorry, Kitten. I’m sure it was a shock to find that out, but does it really matter? College was a decade ago for Caitlin. What did she say when she found out?”
“She wasn’t happy. She was as freaked out as I was.”
“Well, give it some time. I’m sure she won’t care.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter if she cares. I care. They…were intimate.”
Wells scrunched up his nose. “Okay, that is kind of weird. But it’s better than sleeping with your cousin, right?”
“My cousin? What are you talking about?”
“I’m just saying, there are worse things than seeing the same man naked as your stepdaughter. For example, sleeping with your cousin, or your brother. Or…that really old guy in the Senate, the one whose ears hang down almost to his shoulders. He needs otoplasty. I read about different cosmetic ear surgeries the night of the last election when they kept showing that dude on the screen.”
I frowned. “I really liked him, Wells.”
“I know you did, sweetheart. I liked him for you, too.”
“I don’t know if I should go back to finish the Ryan’s House project.”
“What are you talking about? Of course you have to go back. That has nothing to do with whether you can be with the boy-toy.”
I would hate to walk away from the commitment I made to the charity. That’s not the person I was. “I know, but…”
“But what? I’m sure he’ll be respectful. He seems like a stand-up guy from everything you’ve told me.”
I sighed. “That’s not the problem.”
“Okay, so what is?”
“I’m not worried about Brayden’s ability to keep his distance. I’m worried about my own self-control. I don’t trust myself around Brayden.”
CHAPTER 15
Brayden
I alternated between staring at the wall in my apartment and looking out the window at the busy street below. Despite having plenty of things that should’ve kept me occupied as I worked from home today, I couldn’t concentrate on anything besides what had happened this past weekend. Or more specifically, what never happened this past weekend.
I’d been back in the City since yesterday after my most recent, miserable trip to Seneca Falls. Alex hadn’t freaking showed up. I couldn’t say I was surprised, nor could I blame her, but I’d really been hoping we could talk. Instead, I’d immersed myself in work at the house, probably one of my most productive times there. It was the first weekend since this project started that I hadn’t been distracted by Alex, even if every corner of the house still reminded me of her.