Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 164828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164828 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 824(@200wpm)___ 659(@250wpm)___ 549(@300wpm)
“So why are you upset?”
“Because he’s been lying to me for ten years,” I whisper in an outrage. “Never once in ten years has he mentioned a woman to me.”
“Has he mentioned a man to you?”
“No, but...” I throw my hands up in frustration.
“Nathan is different from most people, Eliza. He doesn’t talk about his feelings openly, not even to the people he sleeps with.”
“Well, he tells you everything.” I huff.
“You know why he tells me everything?”
“Why?”
“Because I walked in on him and Robert in a compromising position when they were sixteen.”
I frown. “How old were you?”
“Eighteen. I talked to Nathan about it because he had no choice. I had seen it with my own eyes, so he eventually opened up and told me everything. It changed for us on that day. We grew closer. I understood where he was coming from and I became his only confidant.”
“And what’s he telling you now, Alex?”
“He’s petrified that if he tells you the truth, he’s going to lose you.”
“So, he lied?”
His eyes hold mine. “He’s just testing the waters with her, Lize. She means nothing. Trust me on this.”
Are you for real?
Nathan’s going to use a girl to test his waters, and Alex expects me to rejoice in this?
Anger bursts through me for him lying to me while lying beside me every night. For him using someone, for him sending his brother to talk to me instead of doing it himself, and for me acting like an immature idiot. The list is endless, and I can feel nastiness building on my tongue.
“I’m not discussing this with you, Alex.” I storm from the bathroom and into the bedroom.
“Then discuss it with him!” he calls from behind me as he follows me out.
I turn like the devil. “The only word I am capable of saying to your brother at the moment is liar.”
His face falls. “Don’t be angry.”
“I’m not!” I snap. “I’m going downstairs. You coming or not?”
His eyes hold mine and I know he’s disappointed at how our talk has gone. How did he think this was going to go?
“I’ll see you down there,” he eventually replies.
“Fine.” I turn and storm out.
It’s official.
Mercer men are pissing me off.
* * *
The plane bounces on its landing, and I grip my armrests. It’s been a long trip home.
Actually, it’s been a long twenty-four hours. Nathan and I have spoken about ten words to each other. He slept in the spare room again last night, and I guess if I was searching for an answer, he gave it to me then and there.
Things have changed between us; it’s clear now.
Crystal clear.
We leave the plane, and I follow him through the airport in silence. When we get to the street, he takes my hand and my heart nearly breaks.
It won’t be my hand he’s reaching for soon.
It’s the weirdest thing. Stephanie is probably a lovely girl and could make Nathan happy, but all I can feel for her at the moment is resentment. And rather than say something snarky and showing Nathan my horrible jealous true colors, I remain silent. If I don’t say anything, I can’t ruin it any more.
It’s already pretty bad, I need to salvage it as soon as I get control of myself.
We arrive at his car. He puts our bags in the trunk and we drive out into the traffic.
There’s a tension between us, and I’m trying to be a good friend, I really am. But it feels like I don’t even know him anymore.
My mind keeps going over the last twenty-four hours, Pornhub…the kinds of sex he was watching. The moment I thought we had at the airport on Friday.
The lies.
Twenty silent minutes later, we arrive at my apartment. Nathan parks the car, he gets out, opens the trunk, and he takes his suitcase out, too.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
His face falls. “Can I stay?”
My eyes hold his. “Why, Nathe? So we can have more awkward silence?”
“What do you want me to say, Eliza? Tell me what can make this better so I can fix it.”
“Nothing.” I force a smile. “There is nothing wrong with you, Nathe. It’s me. The problem is me.”
“Why?”
“I just need some time to get my head around this.”
“Around what?”
“Around you being with a woman.”
He frowns, as if confused.
“It’s just something that was never on my radar. I feel like—” I cut myself off.
“Like what?”
“Like there is this whole other part of you that I don’t know.”
“There is.” His eyes hold mine. “I’m a very sexual person, Eliza.”
I get a vision of him kissing a girl, and my stomach twists. I nod, unable to push anything intelligent through my lips. “Do you think about her when you’re in bed with me?” I whisper.
His face falls. “No, I do not.” He reaches down and tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear before he cups my face in his hand, and it’s there between us again.