Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(46)

The mental image of Brandt hiking his leg near me caused me to bark out a laugh. “Oh my God. This conversation is so weird.”

It was just too bizarre for me to think that Brandt might actually be interested in me that way. I refused to let my mind wander. I’d let it go there with Seth, and look what had happened. Wasn’t happening again. Certainly not with Brandt. His rejection wouldn’t just hurt; it would outright slaughter me.

“Brandt knows this other guy called you the c-word, right?” Reese murmured, suddenly serious.

I nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

She blew out a relieved-sounding breath. “Good.” Strangely, there was some evil relish to her smile. “I don’t have to worry about doing anything to him myself, then. With Mr. Hot Lips Gamble on the scene, that jackass is already as good as dead.”

My stomach roiled with unease. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” I’d managed to keep Brandt from hunting Seth down last night, but he wouldn’t let it rest. “If he gets himself into trouble, it’ll be all my fault.”

“Don’t worry. After years of watching all those strange movies with you that you love so much, I’m sure he knows how to hide a body without getting caught by now.”

“Reese,” I shrieked, aghast.

She laughed and held up her hands before returning them to the steering wheel. “Kidding. But seriously, I’m sure he knows how to make a guy hurt without getting himself in trouble.”

I hoped so, because one thing I knew for sure was that he wouldn’t let this drop. His protective instincts were just that strong.

God, I loved my stupid, noble defender, even if I did worry for him.

He wasn’t the only man who’d defy trouble to guard me, though. Relieved we’d been able to keep the worst part from my brother, I glanced at Reese. “Are you going to tell Mason?” I asked. “About the kiss or the c-word?”

Reese sighed and looked momentarily torn. I knew she hated keeping stuff from him, but for me, she’d done it a few times. “I can forget about the kiss, I guess,” she finally answered, “But...probably not the other.” She winced at me and said, “Sorry.”

I nodded. “It’s okay.” He was still in the dark enough that I was sure he wouldn’t try to do something big brotherly.

Brandt, on the other hand... Yeah, I didn’t know what I was going to do there.





BRANDT




I had to be the stupidest motherf*cker on the planet.

I hadn’t just kissed my best friend, I’d freaking inhaled her. I’d tasted the forbidden and it’d been the sweetest damn flavor to ever grace my tongue. In return, she’d branded a piece of herself into me permanently.

Seriously, how the hell was I supposed to kiss another woman after that without comparing her to Sarah? Without wishing...

Fuuuuck. This was not good.

What if she wanted more? I would so give it to her, but then I’d so lose her, and that was the one thing I couldn’t do. Sarah was my steady when everything else felt unstable. She was the voice of reason when I was being unreasonable. She was just...there, always there for me, whenever I needed her. I trusted her more than anyone else on the planet, except I guess I couldn’t trust her with the one thing I trusted no one with.

She had my heart, but I couldn’t give her my fears. They’d twisted a part of me, and I was too ashamed to let her see that part, because I was deathly afraid that might be the one thing to send her running for good.

“It’s CP, right?”

I jumped and glanced around to find Julianna watching me scrub beer stains from the countertop of the bar with a vengeance.

Internally cringing, I decided that agreeing to go on a date with a girl on the night before I was supposed to work with her again probably hadn’t been the smartest thing I’d ever done. But hey, with the decisions I’d made lately, smart had abandoned me long ago.

Like it’d been idiotic of me not to beat Seth’s face in last night when I’d been at his apartment to pick Sarah up.

The douche was a wily one. I’d paid a visit to apartment 5A earlier today and no one had answered the door. I’d been sure I’d heard someone inside too. But the little * bastard had been too scared to face me.

He should be.

I really wished I could’ve been able to bash his face in, anything to help me stop thinking about what Sarah and I had done last night.

Which reminded me Juli was blinking at me, waiting for an answer.

Shit. What had she said? Shaking my head, I murmured, “I’m sorry?”

“Your Sarah?” she prompted, making my heart thump at that title. My Sarah. “She has cerebral palsy, right?”

“Yeah,” I said slowly. Suspiciously. “How’d you know?”

She shrugged. “My cousin Benny has it. But it took me a bit to realize Sarah did too because she’s a little different than he is. While she moves more, he has a lot worse posture than her.”

I nodded, dropping the rag I was using to face her fully. “He probably has spastic CP, which is the most common type. Sarah’s is athetoid.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize there were different kinds.” She opened the glass washing machine under the counter to find that, what do you know, the crew who’d worked last night hadn’t emptied the last cycle.