Page 98 of His Turn

Chapter Twenty-Four - Nadia

“Hello,” Bric says into his phone, still half asleep. He turns to look at me, notices Jordan has disappeared, and frowns. “What?” he says into the phone as I glance over at the clock on the bedside table. Five thirty-nine in the morning. For a moment I panic, thinking I need to get up and get ready for rehearsal. But then I remember it’s Saturday.

“When?” Bric says, sitting up and turning his back to me. Then, “How?” A long sigh from Bric as he presses his fingers into his temple. “I’ll be there this afternoon.”

He ends the call and sets his phone down on the nightstand. Drops his head into his hands and rests his elbows on his bare knees.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. Because clearly that was not good news.

“Where’s Jordan?” he asks, instead of answering my question.

“Work, I guess. I just woke up too.”

“I have to go away for the weekend,” he says, still hanging his head.

“What happened?” I want to touch him, but I’m afraid to. Last night was pretty good as far as this whole… relationship goes. But still, I feel like Bric and I are strangers. Not close enough for instant bad news sharing. And definitely not close enough for me to… comfort him. If that’s what he needs right now.

Bric stands up and lets out a long breath. “My brother died. I need to go to Montana for the funeral.” He walks away. Goes into the bathroom, slams the door behind him, and starts the shower. Even though we just took a shower a few hours ago.

He’s trying to get away from me, I realize. But I live here now. With him. Because he wanted me here. And there’s no way I’m letting him get away from this conversation.

I get up, pull the tangled sheet from the bed, wrap myself up, and walk over to the door. Listening with my ear against the wood, trying to get a better understanding of what he’s doing.

Water splashes into the shower, but he’s not in the shower. I can tell by the sound it’s making. “Elias?” I say, knocking on the door. I almost called him Bric. I need to stop thinking of him that way or one of these days it will slip out at the wrong moment and cause a fight. “Can I come in?”

“I’ll be out in a minute,” he says. “Go back to bed.”

I wait for a few seconds. Trying to decide if I should push him. But I end up where he wants me.

Ten minutes later I give up and close my eyes. His brother died. I get that he’s upset. Clearly. But he’s not overly upset. Like… maybe his brother was sick and he saw this coming? Or… Hell, I have no clue. I know nothing about this man.

Then why are you living with him?

Good question, subconscious.

I grab his phone off the table and find Jordan’s contact. Tab it, listen to it ring.

Voicemail.

I text instead. Where did you go?

I understand that Jordan is busy. He’s some important trial lawyer and he’s got a high-maintenance client. Fine. But slipping out of bed? After a great night of sex? Fuck that. He’s not allowed to do that. This was all his idea. I’m here because he wanted me to be in this game.

That’s my justification to the internal monologue.

The phone dings with an incoming text. Had to get a clean suit before work. Don’t worry, I’ll bring my clothes as soon as I get time.

Hmm.

“What are you doing?”

I jump a little from Bric’s loud voice. I hadn’t even noticed he opened the bathroom door. “Texting Jordan. Your phone was here and mine is…” I have no idea. “Not here. So I just figured—”

“You figured wrong,” he says, crossing the room in a few long strides. He snatches the phone from my hand and reads the texts. “Don’t look at my fucking phone.”

“Hey,” I say. “You asked me where Jordan went so I got you an answer. Don’t be a dick to me because something just went wrong in your life.”

“My brother is dead, Nadia. That’s more than just something went wrong.” He snarls those words. In fact, this might be the nastiest tone he’s ever taken with me and you know what? I’m fucking done putting up with this shit.