Priceless (Forbidden Men #8)(63)

For the first time in my life, I felt pretty, like really pretty. And it wasn’t just my physical appearance, it was a feeling, like...I’m not even sure…something deep inside me, a self-awareness that started out as a sensation in my toes, then traveled up my legs and settled warmly in my belly before moving up to brighten my heart.

Maybe I wasn’t completely hopeless. Maybe somewhere, someday, someone might even love me.

A rapping on my window made me scream in surprise. Crap! I hadn’t been expecting that. Heart leaping into my throat, I scurried to grab my clothes, but the knocking kept coming and seemed to gain intensity with every bang.

With no time for clothes, I grabbed my terrycloth robe lying at the foot of my bed, wrapped it securely around me and lifted the window blinds.

I wasn’t sure why I was surprised to see Brandt; he was the only person to ever visit me via window. But I was surprised, anyway, and not necessarily in a good way.

What the heck was he doing here?

I had a bad feeling this visit was going to end not-so-well.





BRANDT




This Seth douche was pissing me off. I’d been by his apartment half a dozen times now, and he’d yet to answer the door. I even sat outside his building in my truck once, hoping to catch him coming or going, but no luck. Mason had never gotten his last name and I didn’t bother to grill Sarah for it. She would’ve just refused to tell me.

But she had let it slip she’d met him at the writing center. So I’d stopped by there once when I knew she wasn’t working and asked around a little. But even if the girl who’d been working then would’ve helped me—which I had a feeling she might have by the way she kept smiling at me and twisting her hair around her finger—she had no idea how to look up all the Seths who’d ever been tutored.

I went as far as to look up every Seth on campus in the school directory. There’d been twenty-one, and none of their addresses matched the one on Locust Street that I kept visiting. I had a bad feeling the f*cktard might just get away with hurting Sarah without a single broken bone to his name, which bothered me on a whole new level of pissed off that drove me insane.

“So I guess Eva went into labor today,” Colton announced from next to me at the supper table, ripping my thoughts from murder and mayhem.

“What?” Aspen screeched across the table from us. “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I didn’t know about this. How did you find out?”

I frowned. Yeah, I hadn’t heard about it either. I was sure Sarah would’ve texted me first thing when she found out, and she would’ve had to be one of the first ones to know because Mason and Reese were set to take care of Pick and Eva’s older kids while they were at the hospital.

Curious about that, I tugged my phone from my pocket and checked the screen for messages.

She hadn’t tried to contact me all day.

Huh.

I went into my message history to realize we hadn’t texted in days. The last time I’d talked to her had been the night of our date.

Swallowing, I wondered if she was still upset because I’d turned her down. I’d thought we’d ended our argument on good terms, but if she hadn’t bothered to tell me about Eva then...something must be wrong.

“Yeah, I was over at, uh, Caroline’s today when she got the call,” Colton was telling Aspen as I contemplated shooting off a text to Sarah, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

I kind of wanted to demand an explanation why she hadn’t told me my boss was about to have baby number four, but I didn’t want her to know I was hurt she hadn’t already told me.

“Caroline already knew?” Aspen asked, sounding a little hurt herself. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

Yeah, why was everyone being so goddamn secretive today?

“Um...not sure,” Colton hedged, sounding suspiciously...suspicious. I glanced at him, frowning, but he looked too busy finishing the last of his steamed carrots to notice much of anything going on around him...which was bullshit in itself. He hated steamed carrots.

“I got the dishes,” he announced suddenly, something he never volunteered to do.

“Uh...okay.” Aspen blinked before sharing a look with Noel, who simply shrugged and then made a face saying he wasn’t going to question their good fortune.

Bringing my hand to my mouth as I watched the scene unfold around me, I narrowed my eyes at my little brother, knowing something was up.

“Yeah, I’ll help him,” I announced, watching Colton’s shoulders tighten as he opened the door to the dishwasher.

“Well...” Grinning, Noel wiped his face with a napkin and tossed it on his plate before reaching for Beau, who sat in a high chair between him and Aspen. “Why don’t the three of us getting out of KP duty head to the living room and enjoy our freedom, huh?”

Aspen beamed at the opportunity to spend some quality time with her two guys, so she hurried to her feet after him. Before she disappeared from the kitchen, she slapped a grateful kiss to my and then Colton’s cheek.

“So...” I started, keeping my eye on my little brother as I gathered up stray plates from the table. “You went to Caroline’s today?”

He shrugged and sent me a quick glance over his shoulder before taking the plates from my hand so he could load the washer. “Yeah. Just checking in, you know, making sure they’re all okay.”