Page 83 of Brutal Sin
“I’m sorry, Bryan. I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t give a shit about the right thing. You only wanted to sate your curiosity.”
She cringed. “You’ve never made friends with a woman before. Not like this. At least, not that I’ve ever known. And you were happy. Then, all of a sudden, you cancel the demo night and start falling into a spiraling depression. I wanted to know what happened. We all needed to make sure you wereokay.”
He stepped toward her side of the bar, raising to his full height. “Get it back. Now.”
“I…” She cleared her throat. “It was almost closing time. She wouldn’t be there anymore.”
“Then find her. Get in your car and don’t come back until you haveit.”
Her eyes glistened, the slight sheen of approaching tears kicking him square in the balls. Fucking hell. He swung away, facing the back of the bar, the bottle now a serious temptation in his closedfist.
If he started drinking, he wouldn’t stop. Not today. Not tomorrow.
“What was in the envelope? What’s so important?” Her voice shook. “And why didn’t she know the demonstration night was canceled? What happened between you two? One minute you were dating. The next youwere—”
“We weren’t dating.” He hung hishead.
“I disagree.” Her voice continued to waver, but there was backbone in her words. “You told her things. You cared for her. I didn’t need to see the two of you together to come to that conclusion. I’ve heard parts of what happened. You went to her cafe, and her house. You brought food and wine. Then a few days later, you’re taking her to a bar. How isn’t that dating?”
He didn’t know. He’d never dated before.
“You chased her, Bryan. You went after her because you like her. You may have blamed it on a million different reasons, but you enjoyed her company and you wanted tokeep—”
“Enough.”
“No. You need to realize—”
“I fucking realize, okay?” His head pounded through the admission, each heartbeat bringing the threat of a stroke. “Iknow.”
“So, you realize you likeher?”
Christ, did she want him to carve the declaration into his flesh? “I realize.”
“And you’re going to let her getaway?”
“She’s already gone.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing I cando.”
“You pushed her away. But I don’t think it was hard enough to be permanent. You could get herback.”
Why? For what reason other than to drag her down to his heartless level? “I don’t want her back.” He only wanted to know what she’d said. How she’d said it. And what she’d looked like when those words had left herlips.
“Why?”
He scoffed. There were a hundred and one reasons. A thousand. Many more. “Because it’s a waste of time. Everyone walks away in theend.”
“How can you say that? Especially after everything T.J. and I went through. We went to hell and back, and now look atus.”
He should’ve clarified—everyone walked away from him. His parents. His aunts and uncles. His cousins.
He turned to face her, taking in the determined set of her shoulders. “Cass, T.J. tried like hell to leave you behind.”
“You know that’s a lie.” Her eyes sparked with defensive rage. “He was only doing it to protectme.”
The inside door squeaked again, making his exhaustion peak. If Shay added to this bullshit, he’d lose his fucking mind. More than he alreadyhad.
“You need to get my envelope back.” He jerked his chin toward the internal door to the upstairs staircase. “And take whoever that is with you. I’m not interested in company.”
