Chapter 14
Avery
Pushing through a crowded festival in order to grab a basket full of food truck meals and find out where the hell the kettle corn stand was, absolutely qualified me for some kind of mental compensation.
As a peace offering to Hazel and the rest of my family’s staff for my piss poor mood all day today, I’d offered my services in running down to the park and grabbing one of everything that I could get my hands on and bringing it back for them to eat once dinner service rolled around.
With my house staff already exhausted from their long day, I figured that the least I could do was go out and grab everything for them instead of telling them to suck it up and brave the crowds before heading home for the day.
At least this way, I could also pay for everything while ensuring that they were well fed before leaving the property for the night.
Some of my staff lived year round on the grounds but the majority had families of their own to take care of.
After having hit the last food truck and then following the scent of the butter and sugar permeating throughout the park, I finally made my way toward a quieter section and wound up face-to-face with the last kind of situation I ever expected to stumble upon.
Tucked into the alcove of an alleyway was the same man I’d run into at Brandon’s shop a few days prior who’d seemed all too interested in flirting with my former best friend, and said best friend standing way too close for anyone passing by to mistake it for anything platonic.
Seeing Brandon’s face cradled in some guy’s hold like that had my stomach turning.
Why the hell was this guy allowed to touch him so intimately when he hardly knew him?
“Brandon.”
That had him breaking out of the guy’s hold and turning to the sound of my voice. His eyes widened the second he spotted me, almost like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been with the way he quickly glanced away and then back to me again.
“W-what are you doing here?”
Like that fucking mattered?
“Could ask you the same thing?”
Brandon’s mouth opened slowly and then shut. His cheeks were slightly flushed in the fading sunlight that was casting an orange glow over all of us. The colors in the sky were reflecting in those deep colored eyes of his, mirroring back a refracted version that I could stare at all day.
I didn’t want to read too much into what I’d stumbled upon. But the longer I stood here, the more I was realizing that Brandon was most likely on a date.
Fuck, why did that make me so fucking annoyed?
Oh, right. Because he was currently avoiding me, and or, ignoring me.
I’d sent two emails after the one he’d sent me.
One asking for more information about the car’s status and two, requesting either a phone call or for me to come in and look at it.
None of which were meant to question Brandon’s integrity or his shop in how they ran things or the way that they clearly knew much better than me on how to repair these cars.
But in actuality, it was simply an excuse to see him to try and smooth over what I was now calling The Incident.
An entire day and a half had passed since then with no response sent my way. Figuring he’d gotten busy, I’d let it go. Though, clearly, I’d been dead wrong about that.
“Do you... know this man?” the other guy asked, his gaze darting between both of us.
The question made my blood boil. “Yeah, we do.”
Brandon ran a hand over his face. “Max, can you give us a minute?”
The other guy evidently wanted to argue with the way his mouth immediately shot open, but at the last second he thought better of it and slowly shut it again and cleared his throat. “Yeah, of course.”
The second those words left the guy’s mouth, Brandon stormed over to me and grabbed a hold of my arm, yanking me away from the alley.
He dragged me through the crowd, the sound of the music blaring drowning out anything that he might be saying to me while guiding us to wherever the hell he was headed toward.
I didn’t bother fighting. Didn’t want to anyway.
My basket banged against my thigh as we dodged and weaved through the throngs of people, the top layer of food nearly rolling out when I was yanked off of the sidewalk and to a small patch of grass closer to the parking lot.
When he finally stopped, we were a few hundred feet from where I’d caught him canoodling with whatever-the-hell that guy was.
Friend?
Boyfriend?
Lover?
Each title made me more nauseous than the previous one.
“What are you doing?” Brandon demanded.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t, Avery. You know exactly what I’m talking about. What’s with the attitude?”
Sucking my tongue back against my teeth, I contemplated being brutally honest. That guy wasn’t shit and Brandon deserved better.
Did I have any proof to back any of my opinions up outside of my own mother-given intuition?
Absolutely not.
So I resorted to the next best thing. “You’re avoiding me.”
His eyes went wide. “No. I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Don’t fucking lie to me, Brandon. You think it’s cute that you ignored my emails and then I catch you out here with what’s-his-face?”
“Max,” he supplied.
“Whatever.” Between the both of us, we knew why Brandon was avoiding me. Why he’d ignored me when I’d requested to see him in person or even talk to him on the phone.
Why bring it up when I already knew the damn answer?
It was my fucking fault that we were in this mess of a situation anyway. Blaming him was ridiculous and we both knew it. None of that was stopping my stupid mouth from continuing to run—fueled by whatever emotion was currently auto-piloting my goddamn idiot brain.
“Stop it,” I said, my tone firm.
“Stop what?” his voice croaked back.
My hand tightened around the basket. “You know what. Don’t play dumb, you’re smarter than that.”
God, what was I fucking saying to him?
That wasn’t fair. I needed to stop before I actually ruined what little threads left we still had connecting us together. This fragile and delicate state could only handle so much before there would be nothing that either of us could do to fix it.
He swallowed visibly. “I’m sorry. For...”
My heart pounded in my chest. “Don’t be. I’m not.”
His lips parted in shock.
The confession wasn’t planned in the slightest. In fact, I had no idea I felt that way until this very moment when the words were suddenly tumbling out of my mouth. But now that they were out there, it was hard to regret them, as disgusting as it made me seem for coming onto him the way that I had.
Causing any kind of discomfort for Brandon was the last thing I ever wanted to do.
Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t get him or what happened before everything went to shit, out of my head.
I’d never been turned on like that before, never felt that out of my mind with desire that I’d practically come in my own pants just by rubbing up against another body.
His intoxicating smell, his provocative moans, the way he’d unconsciously moved his body against mine.
Every waking second my thoughts were filled with those moments.
He lifted a slightly shaking hand to his hair and ran it through the lengths a few times. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yeah. I do.”
He was staring at me with those same wide eyes that he’d given me when I’d caught him with his date.
Slightly guilty and slightly mystified that I was even standing there in the first place.
What I wouldn’t give to know what the fuck was going on inside of his head right now, to get a small glimpse of the whirling thoughts cycling inside of that big brain.
“You... I don’t think you...” His gaze darted away from mine, a slight flush coloring his cheeks again.
“Don’t fill in the blanks. I said what I said.” Whatever that meant. At this point, even I wasn’t sure what I was talking about.
All I knew was that I didn’t want Brandon to take what happened and hate me for it.
Brandon’s chest was rising and falling quickly, like it was hard for him to catch his breath. He focused on my mouth for a long moment and then moved his gaze back up to make eye contact with me.
“Avery...”
Something deep and warm formed in my gut. I gave in to the urge and grabbed his arm, hauling him closer to me until we were nearly chest-to-chest. His small gasp shot right down to dick.
What the hell was happening to me?
I wanted to reach up and cup his face like that guy did.
Replace his touch with my own so that Brandon remembered me instead.
I supposed I’d always been a little possessive of my best friend, even back then, but it simply never seemed as prominent since we hardly hung out with anyone but each other.
There had been times when I’d had to chase people away from him, though.
People who were much too interested in soaking up his valuable time that was meant for me only.
I’d had a monopoly on it and intended to keep my position as lord over it, regardless of whoever else tried to come along and fight me for it.
They never lasted, though. Most people tended to give up too easily, even if it was something that they desperately wanted.
I doubted Brandon ever noticed any of that back then. He’d been way too busy with school, me, and his family to pay attention to anything outside of his bubble.
Which was fine with me.
Now that things were different and those same possessive feelings were cropping up, I had no way to relieve them other than to pray that I was enough to get Brandon to focus on me instead of everything else.
So far, I was striking out.
That didn’t mean I was about to give up, though. I wasn’t like the rest of them. I knew what was in front of me. I knew what having Brandon in my life meant and what it felt like to lose him. I couldn’t deal with that again.
I wouldn’t.
“After your date, come to my place,” I said, slowly letting go of his arm.
He let out a small, choked sound. “Avery.”
“I’ll be waiting.”