Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91937 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
I get out of the tub before him. “I’m going to go see what we can make for a snack.” I dry off, grabbing the shirt he wore today and putting it on. “Meet me downstairs.”
“Yeah, baby,” he agrees as he gets out of the tub and reaches for a towel, my stomach and vagina fluttering from the sight of his naked body.
I’m halfway down the steps when the knock on the door comes. I look out and see a woman, so I open it, never expecting it to be who it is. Pulling it open, I see a woman who is taller than me with long red hair. The smile on her face falls when she sees me. “Sorry,” she says, “I was looking for Brady.”
CHAPTER 33
Brady
I slip on a pair of shorts and walk out of the bedroom, listening to the front door being opened. “Sorry,” I hear the voice and stop halfway down the steps. “I was looking for Brady.” My heart sinks in my stomach as I watch Harmony’s back go straight.
“Um, yeah,” she says, her voice low and tight. “He’s—” She looks like she’s about to turn around and call me, but she sees me, and the look in her eyes is one I haven’t seen before. It’s also a look I never want to see again in my whole life. “There is someone—” She turns back.
“Taylor,” she says her name, and I walk to the door, seeing Taylor standing there with a frozen look on her face. “Hey.”
“Hey,” I reply when I’m standing behind Harmony, who I can feel shaking in front of me. She turns and walks over to her purse, grabbing it to her chest.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think you had company,” Taylor says as Harmony moves to the door.
“No company.” She looks straight at Taylor. “I’m his neighbor, and he was helping me.” She downplays it, and I ball my hands into fists beside me. She moves to the door before I can even grab her hand. “I’m going to go,” she murmurs, avoiding looking at me as she heads to the door wearing nothing but my T-shirt. “Have a nice evening,” she says, rushing out of the house without her fucking shoes on.
“Harmony,” I call her name, and she only turns when she’s at the bottom of the steps.
“It’s fine, Brady.” I can see her bottom lip quivering. “See you tomorrow.”
Like fuck, I want to snap at her, but I’m not doing this in front of Taylor. I’m getting rid of her and then we’re finally going to fucking get things straight. She rushes through the fucking weeds with no shoes, going to her house.
“Brady,” Taylor says, and I finally look over at her, “I’ve been texting you, and you haven’t gotten back to me. I was—”
“I did get back to you and told you I was busy.”
“Well.” She smiles at me. “You’re always busy. I was hoping we could be busy together.”
“Taylor,” I growl her name with my jaw almost wired shut, “I’m with someone now.”
“Wait, what?” she asks, confused, looking at me like Harmony didn’t storm out of here a couple of minutes ago.
“I’m with someone,” I repeat myself.
“But you said you would never be exclusive,” she reminds me of the talk we had about a year ago after she wanted to take things to the next step, and I did not. “You stood in my kitchen and told me that you didn’t see yourself with anyone.”
“Taylor,” I say.
“No!” Her tone goes from soft to angry. “You specifically said you couldn’t give me what I wanted.”
“I can’t,” I confirm. “The two of us, it just didn’t work.”
“It didn’t work because you never let it work.” Her voice goes even higher, and I have to end this fast. I stand here looking at her. “You knew I was in love with you,” she whines the words, and I have to admit I knew she had feelings for me.
“I never, ever once told you anything other than the truth,” I snap. “You asked for more, and I said no. You knew we were not exclusive, and you accepted it.”
“I would accept anything. I was in love with you,” she hisses.
“How?” I ask. “Are you listening to yourself? Taylor, you deserve someone who wants you and only you. And I am not him.” My voice softens. “I will never be him. I will never love you like that.”
She wipes the tear from the corner of her eye. “I wanted it to be you.”
I shake my head. “It wasn’t meant to be me.” She turns on her heel and runs down the steps toward her car. I don’t even wait for her to pull away before I walk my ass across the fucking weeds to the pitch-black house. The only thing that goes through my head is she walked—no, sorry, fucking ran—tearing up her fucking feet to get away from Taylor and her bullshit visit.