5. Chapter 5 #4
He shrugged and took a few steps forward.
“Eh, it’s OK. You’re in bed. You know I like that.
” As he came closer, I could see even in the dimness his tongue licking the back of his teeth as his eyes glazed over.
I was surprised he wasn’t salivating. And I could smell the liquor on his breath, and something else too. Probably some woman’s perfume.
He was disgusting.
“Brandon, I was hoping we could talk first.”
His brows furrowed a bit, but he nodded. “Sure, yeah, of course.” He sat on the bed, the dazed look in his eyes clearing a bit. “What’s up, babe?”
“I didn’t see you much this week.” I watched his face for a reaction and paused to see if he’d offer any excuses for not checking in on me.
He simply ran his fingers through his slightly tousled hair and stared at me, waiting for me to say more.
“When I last saw you, I made a pretty big confession. Do you remember?”
He glanced at his lap and scratched his head. “Ah, I … I’m not sure—”
“I said I might be falling in love with you.” I narrowed my eyes slightly as I watched him.
A look of shock or maybe panic crossed his face before he quickly pasted on his winning smile. “You did. Of course I remember. I’m such a lucky guy. It’s, uh, it’s part of the reason I came over.”
“Oh?”
“I mean, yeah. Had to show my appreciation,” he said with a grin.
“Your appreciation? That’s an interesting way to put it.” I kept my voice even and pretended to examine my nails before looking him square in the eye. “Usually when one person uses the L-word for the first time, a different kind of response is expected. ”
He couldn’t hide his discomfort now, though he still tried. He quickly pasted on another smile and put his hand to his heart. “Well, of course, babe. You’re so gorgeous, it was love at first sight for me.”
I swallowed the disgust threatening to overtake me.
He reached out then to stroke my calf, while I forced myself not to immediately pull away in revulsion. “So, do you want to—”
“Not yet. I was wondering, are you in love with Viviana too?”
He sharply drew his hand back to his lap. His mouth opened and then closed, and his eyes were wary. “Hell no. I don’t even like her that much. Why?”
I bristled at this. Even though I wasn’t on speaking terms with Viviana right now, I didn’t want to hear this jerk disparaging her. “Oh, she paid me a visit the night after Ellen’s dinner party.”
Brandon stood up, his blue eyes flashing in anger. “I’ll bet she did.” He paused for a moment with a calculating sneer. “She was pretty forward with me, and she didn’t take my rejection well. Whatever she told you—”
I rose from the bed and stood in front of him, finally allowing him to see the full force of the fury in my eyes. “How dare you. You are not fit to say her name, you … you snake.”
His expression morphed from disbelief to brief regret and then to a sneer, transforming his face into something I didn’t recognize. Who was this person I thought I’d been falling in love with?
He must have seen the horror pass over my face at that moment, as he said mockingly, “Don’t worry, we can still have a quickie before I go.”
Ice ran through my veins as I purred, “That’s the one thing I will miss. The bedroom. You gave almost as good as you received. Almost , but not quite.” I spun on my heel before commanding him over my shoulder, “Now get out.”
There was a beat before I heard him shuffle his feet. As he opened the door, I heard his loathsome voice again. “Girls like you are a dime a dozen, Annie. You’re a pretty redhead, a hot lay, nothing more. It’ll take me five minutes to replace you. ”
Before he could close the door, I was flying across the room, slamming it in his face and then sliding down, down, down to the floor.
Through gasping breaths, I stilled when I heard what sounded like … bone on bone? I quickly rose, opening the door quietly, just a crack. Brandon was holding his nose, fuming and stomping out the door.
Once he was safely out of the apartment, I stomped out of my room to find my roommates there, panting and red-faced. “Rainn!” I thundered. “I told you not to touch him. I’m not … I don’t like violence. Even with a bastard like him.”
And then I saw Rafael’s hand, bloodied and starting to bruise rapidly as he headed over to the sink. I gasped. “Rafael?” Never in a million years could I see him hitting someone.
Rainn went over to help him wash and then bandage his hand. Once they were finished, they walked back over to me, heads hung low. “Sorry, Annie. I’m as surprised as you,” Rafael mumbled.
“No, it’s … it’s fine.” I felt a strange squeeze in my heart.
These guys loved me.
That was more important than anything.
“Don’t do it again, but … I’m touched.”
“Don’t be mad, Annie, but I also hacked into some accounts on his phone, since he left it in his coat on the rack when he got here,” Rainn said, wincing because he apparently thought this would upset me.
“Oh, you did? And what did you find?” I couldn’t hide a smile. Rainn was a pretty talented IT guy, which had definitely come in handy for nefarious reasons more than once during our friendship.
“Let’s just say, it’s enough to make sure he doesn’t try to hurt you, like give you bad job references or spread rumors or anything like that. And I let him know it.”
I lunged forward and embraced them both.
“I’m sure I don’t deserve such amazing friends, but I am so glad I have you guys.
Thank you, again and again and again. Now, excuse me while I go spend the rest of my life figuring out how I can make all this up to you guys.
You’ve both been godsends all week. Forever, really. ”
Rafael shook his head. “No, no, no. Don’t you dare talk like that. As if you don’t deserve us. Give yourself some credit, girl. We might have been listening a bit at the door tonight, and that was an epic takedown of an epic jerk.”
“We could go on and on all night about how much we love you, Annie,” Rainn said, “but we’re guys and, well, love fests aren’t really our thing. At least not that kind.”
Rafael and I laughed, but then he sobered. “But seriously, Annie. I heard his parting shot. He’s full of BS, you know. You do know that, right?”
I thought his words might be burned in my brain forever, except that they were words I’d heard many times before, from many other men and some women too. They were already imprinted there, had been for years, maybe my whole life. It was practically my birthright, as a daughter of Jacqueline York.
“Right, I know,” I said with a smile that didn’t reach my eyes. My tired eyes. It was well past midnight by now, and I was exhausted.
Thank goodness for sleep. It was my only refuge of late.