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I tighten my grip in his as we make our way to where the action is. There’s an officer right outside of the yellow tape, blocking other onlookers from crossing.
“Officer, what happened?” Brandon asks.
“Who are you?” the older, gruff officer responds.
“Brandon Eastwood, protection agent for Ava Wells,” he says and nods in my direction. “She’s a resident of this building.”
I miss whatever the officer says next. Two people come from a van markedCity Forensicswith a white sheet. They cover the prone male on the steps leading into the building.
The man is lying at an awkward angle, but I’d recognize that towhead anywhere. “Reid,” I gasp.
Brandon stops listening to the officer and turns his attention to me, and I feel myself slipping to the ground. Strong arms wrap around me before I splatter to the damp ground.While he’s supporting my weight, I hear Brandon asking the officer if we can access the apartment for his car keys, but we’re not allowed to trespass an active crime scene.
I’m numb to my surroundings and only aware when Brandon moves us across the street from where I see Reid’s body being moved. I briefly hear Brandon speaking, but everything around me is a blur.
“Max is on his way. We’ll go to my office and figure out the next steps from there.”
“Why is all this happening?” I ask.
I want my old life back. When my friends were people I could trust, and my on/off boyfriend wasn’t conspiring against me or murdered.A random homicide, I remember hearing the officer say, but it doesn’t feel random.
Reid’s death feels like a message. A very loud one.
Brandon doesn’t answer, only rubs circles on my back. Maxwell arrives and the tension from Brandon’s body hasn’t ebbed. The niggling feeling that something is off won’t subside. I’m quiet as we make out way to the TSS midtown office.Maxwell’s easygoing chatter with Brandon in the front becomes background noise when the image of Reid’s lifeless body being carried away plays on a loop in my head.
On our way into the building and up in the elevator, Max and Brandon sandwich me in between them, instinctively creating a protective barrier and keeping their gazes moving at our surroundings. Once we exit the elevator, Brandon presses his large palm to the small of my back, and I lean into his touch, not wanting him to let me go.
“Maxwell, give us a moment,” Brandon says once the three of us approach his corner office.
“I’ll be in the kitchen,” Maxwell says, walking off in the opposite direction.
Brandon holds open his door, and I sink into the comfy couches in his office like my own weight is too much to bear. I want to be held and assured everything will go back to normal. I pat the free space next to me on the sofa, but Brandon shakes his head. Instead, he rests a hip along the edge of his desk, crossing his arms before speaking.
“Why are you avoiding me now?” I ask. We’d become inseparable since that night at Scorpio. I didn’t understand why Brandon’s demeanor has turned hot and cold.
“You asked earlier what happened with Asher and me,” he pauses, and immediately my heartbeat quickens.His gaze finally levels with mine, and I stay quiet, bracing myself for whatever comes next. After the day I’ve had, I’m preparing for another blow.
Brandon takes a deep breath before continuing. “Asher knows. About us.”
I don’t react at first. Asher hadn’t mentioned anything while we were there for hours visiting him. Once again, my brother didn’t have enough respect for me to approach me directly but instead confronted Brandon.
“Is that why you’ve been acting strange since I returned to Asher’s room?”
“Asher, of course, wasn’t happy to find out you and I—” Brandon pauses, lowering his gaze and running a hand through his dark hair. His hair now looks as anguished as I feel. “I hate to admit this, but your brother is right. I’m not a relationship guy. I rarely spend too much time in one place, always looking to get away. I have to check in on TSS, but otherwise this office runs itself while I can be away for months at a time.”
All these words Brandon is throwing at me are swimming around in my head. I can’t make sense of what he’s trying to say.
“So, is this your way of saying you want to travel? I’m not going to hold you back, Brandon.”
“I know you won’t,” he says, crossing his arms tighter across his chest. “In fact, that’s precisely why we should just end this now because I know how you are, Ava. You’d put yourself on hold because of me, and I can’t ask you to.”
We should end this now.
“I wouldn’t ‘put myself on hold’ for you, Brandon. I’m not expecting anything from you. I know how I feel now. How I’vealwaysfelt, truthfully, and this—” I motion between us “—isn’t going to go away.”
“Ava, you’re the last person I want to hurt. Ever. I’m not the right man for you. For anyone, truthfully. I don’t know the first thing about relationships. Being a part of your family all these years is the closest I’ll have to the real thing, and I won’t jeopardize that or your happiness because I’m selfish.”
I stand up now when Brandon pushes away from his desk. He stops short before me, and I sidestep him, not able to stand being so close after what he’d told me.
