Chapter 20
Brody
Another morning, another wake-up call for Selena with a cold sponge to the face. This time, she attempted to slap me when I leaned over her, but I moved out of range too quickly.
“I’m not running two days in a row.” Her voice came out from under the blanket.
“Yes, you are,” I said calmly, flipping the bottom of her duvet up and grabbing her foot.
She yelped and squirmed as I dragged her to the bottom of the bed, then onto the floor.
She fell in a tangle of covers and sheets, swearing at me the entire way down.
“What the hell, Brody?!” She kicked off the covers and stood. She crossed her arms and glared at me, angling her chin up like all she wanted was to take a swing at me.
“I said, it’s time for our run.”
“And I said I don’t want to go for a run!”
“What about your clothes?” I tempted her.
She rolled her eyes. “I just remembered that your rich daddy gave me a black card to buy a new wardrobe with. Take your drip-feeding of my stuff and shove it.”
“Now you’re spoiling all the fun,” I murmured.
She blinked up at me. I stood rigidly over her, watching as she fought against my control. She was beautiful when she was angry.
“You’re going for a run anyway.”
“No, I’m not. Yesterday wasn’t that bad, I’ll give you that, but let’s not make a habit of spending too much time together. It wouldn’t be good for your health. I don’t want to have to poison you again.”
My lips twitched. “Funny.”
“Thanks, I try. Now, get the fuck out of my room.”
I leaned down to bring my face close to hers. “No.”
“Brody!” she exclaimed, then cut off abruptly when I caught her wrist.
Before she could protest, I straightened her arm and turned it over to see the dressing I’d put on the other night.
It was still there and looking a little grimy.
“This needs changing.”
Selena had gone completely silent.
“I’m taking it off,” I continued, barely giving her a second to prepare. I tugged it.
She didn’t flinch as the tape ripped at her skin and came off.
The three precise cuts were scabbing over, healing well.
“Don’t cover it for a while. It needs to dry out.”
“I don’t need you to tell me how to heal a cut, thanks,” she muttered, finding her voice. She tugged her arm from my fingers. “I have plenty of experience.”
I clenched my jaw, feeling an irrational spurt of anger at her words.
“I can tell,” I murmured quietly and waited to see if she’d feel inclined to elaborate.
Her breath caught, and, despite her fighting words and blazing eyes, she seemed so delicate. A pulse pounded in her slender neck, revealing her secrets.
Before she could say anything, she dropped my burning gaze and stepped back.
“Fine, whatever. Let’s run. If it will get you off my back.” Her cheeks had turned a pretty rosy-pink color.
Where else does she get that beautiful blush? Is that the same shade as her nipples? What the fuck? Where had those thoughts come from?
I stepped back farther, turning away before I got a hard-on arguing with the most irritating, messy woman I’d ever met.
“See you outside in ten minutes,” I told her curtly and left.
Hours later, I sat in my management class, listening to the professor droning on about recruitment policy, trying to erase the image of Selena pulling her baggy sweatshirt off after the run and dragging her T-shirt up at the same time. Her fucking belly button was haunting me.
There was something wrong with me. I felt fevered, the back of my neck prickling with heat. Was I getting sick? I never got sick. I didn’t have time to get sick.
The professor assigned a project that would require ample library time.
That afternoon I was going downtown to work.
My father insisted that to be ready to take on significant responsibility at the company, I needed to be able to hit the ground running.
That meant finishing my degree faster than the rest of my class and working part-time in a Sinclair Industries office.
He’d established a regional one in Hade Harbor just for that purpose.
He usually worked out of the New York one, which put the Hade Harbor office under my management.
My father had no qualms about setting up an office just to give his son work experience.
The word nepotism had no power over him. He didn’t give a single fuck.
I filed out of the lecture hall as a girl fell into step beside me.
“Brody, did you get the homework assignment?” she asked.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I have?” She looked vaguely familiar. “Aren’t you the TA?”
She nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Guilty as charged. I wanted to check that you got the assignment notes and know what to do. If not, I could give you a hand later, at the library, or I don’t know, a bar or something.”
“Wow, you seriously go around and offer everyone help? You’re very dedicated to your position,” I said flatly. I didn’t have time for this right now. I needed to get downtown.
She laughed in a way that made me think she’d practiced it. “I’m not offering extra help to just anyone. Just… select people. Well, a select person.”
I narrowed my eyes at her and walked toward the exit at a brisk pace, and she kept up.
“Are you telling me that you think I’m a special case who needs extra help? Are my grades that bad?”
“No! That’s not what I meant. You know that.” She laughed and slapped me on the arm, her hand lingering.
I stopped just outside the doors to the quad. “Look, TA—”
“Sally,” she said with a smile.
I blew out a breath. “Sally. TA. I think there’s a conflict of interest here. I don’t think TAs should tangle with students. Forgive me.” I took her hand off my arm.
“I could quit!” she exclaimed as I walked away.
“Don’t bother,” I tossed over my shoulder and made my escape.
The drive to the office wasn’t long. Hade Harbor was so small. Turn around, and you were out of town again.
I parked and made it to my office just in time to answer my father’s video call request.
He sat at his desk in front of the New York city skyline. It was a very familiar view. It had been the background to countless video calls on missed birthdays and other important events. My father’s attachment to his work had been the reason my mother had left. Well, that and Emily’s death.
“Brody, catch me up,” he said as soon as I answered.
I’m good, Dad. How are you?
I didn’t say that, however. I never felt fucking anything about my father’s lack of personal interest in his family. I’d learned that there was no damn point.
I jumped into the local business updates, as well as my take on several articles he’d sent me when he’d been away. This was as close to quality time as I ever came with my father.
Half an hour later, he was checking his watch, and I knew my time was up.
“Oh, that reminds me. Marjory wants Selena to get some hands-on experience at a company, since she’s majoring in marketing.”
“Meaning?”
“Find her an intern position at the office, something easy. I don’t want her calling her mother to complain that you gave her something hard to do.”
“Okay.” Bloody hell. She wasn’t going to like me being her boss, I knew that already. But that was too fucking bad. I didn’t hate the idea at all. It was about time Selena understood who was in charge in our relationship.
“I’ll get her mom to send her in at the end of the week, and you can show her the ropes.”
“Understood.”
Oh, this was going to be fun.