AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Brent.”
Justine nods and shrugs her shoulders. “Do you really blame him? The guy you’ve fallen for, who has likely fallen hard and fast for you, just found out everything was a lie.”
“But it wasn’t,” I snap.
Her gaze softens and she brings a hand to my thigh, squeezing gently as a reminder that she’s here for me. “That’s not what it looks like to him though, Syd. He doesn’t think you were honest with him about the way you acted, probably thinks you were using him for the information Heath wanted — and you can’t blame him for that.”
I groan loudly. “I know, Justine, I know. What the hell do I do, just let him go?”
She scoffs. “Hell no, we’re going to come up with a way for you to win his ass back and get the life you deserve. I’ve watched you with guys, Syd, and I’ve never seen you this broken over someone. I won’t let you lose him so easily.”
Knowing I have one person on my side seems to be enough for the pain to fade away slightly, along with the idea that I’ll be able to get the love I lost back. I never even got the chance to tell him how I really feel, the length I was willing to go for him and Nathan, and now I just need the chance to do exactly that.
While Justine and I go over every possible way I can prove my true feelings to Brent, there’s another way that I never thought of and I smile at the idea. There’s a chance that if this goes the way I want it to I could have everything I’ve ever wanted, with a guy who deserves more than what I’ve given him — but I’m vowing now to make up for everything I’ve put him through tonight and the long nights after.
First things first though, I have a job to quit and now seems like the perfect time to do it. The next part of my plan is finding a new job and getting everything in order with it. It’s time to get out of the city and go where my heart truly belongs — the ranch, or at least close enough to it.
Can he still deny me after all this? I guess I’ll find out.
Chapter 27
Brent
All I see is red when I finally pull in front of the main house, my gaze immediately falling onto the guest house that is probably filled with things that would remind me of Sydney. Nathan is tapping his foot frantically against the steps and his gaze darts to mine when I finally step up to him. “What happened?”
I shake my head, not wanting to cry in front of my son, and chuckle. “She was playing me all along, Nate. Everything that I thought we had was nothing but a lie.”
His brows crease and he sighs. “Dad, are you sure?”
“Does it look like I’m not?”
He throws his hands up in the air with a frown. “I’m not saying she didn’t hurt you, but are you sure everything was a lie?”
“Whose side are you on, Nate?”
“Don’t try to make me feel bad, Dad. I barely understood what you said over the phone, but I understood enough to know that you ran as soon as things got bad. You didn’t give her a chance to talk, maybe explain herself to you.”
She doesn’t deserve to have that chance. I went somewhere I knew would make me uncomfortable just so I could see her earlier than planned, but it seems as though she wasn’t the only one who got a surprise. How could I have been so blind? I was never the reason she kept coming around like I had hoped, it was only to get me talking about the ranch so she could go back to her prissy job with the information.
How much did she tell him anyway?
I grunt before stomping past Nathan and shoving my front door open, the sound of the handle cracking against the wall echoing through the room. That’s not a problem worth caring about right now though, not when my heart still aches as bad as it did the night I found out Renee had died.
Haven’t I been through enough? Why must I keep getting destroyed over and over again? There’s something heating in the oven as I walk into the kitchen and Nathan’s footsteps are rough behind me, but I ignore him. He comes to a stop behind me, patiently waiting as I grab a bottle of whiskey and pour myself a healthy glass before downing it in one drink.
I’m not even sure if the alcohol will drown out any of the pain, but it’s worth a try.
“Dad, stop,” Nathan snaps. “Is this really what you want to turn into? It’s not going to help anything, trust me.”
My eyes snap to him and he frowns. “What, you think I didn’t try to drown out the hurt of not having my mother around?” He shakes his head and points to the bottle on the counter. “That’s not the answer to your problems, no matter how much you think it will be.”
I scoff. “I guess I’ll be the judge of that.” Before the alcohol can completely take over, I nudge my head in the direction of the guest house and curl my lip in disgust. “Get her shit out of that house and throw it all away, or make sure it gets to her somehow. I don’t want it here though.”
Nathan nods slowly, a resigned look in his eyes that only worsens my mood, then he slowly heads out of the house without saying anything to me. So Nathan doesn’t have to watch me have my own pity party, I grab the bottle of whiskey and head upstairs to my room. As much as I want to say that after everything Sydney did, my mind is done thinking about her, that’s not the case at all.
Just as I’ve done night after night when she left the last time, I picture her lying on the mattress and it nearly makes me sick. How could I still think about her like this after everything she’s put me through? Instead of lying in the comfort of my room, I take a few steps backward until I’m back in the hall and head in the direction of a guest room.
This isn’t somewhere that’s tainted with her image, so I curl into a ball under the blankets and let the anger inside me take control. I holler into the empty room until my voice is hoarse, throat aching for reprieve, but I just keep going. The door bursts open for a minute, but it’s soon followed by it clicking shut — I guess even my own son doesn’t want to deal with me right now.
