Always(Time for Love Book 4)(30)

“That was Mum who rang. She asked if you have your DVD copy of it, because she couldn’t find hers. All of a sudden she wants to watch it today and she wants me to bring it over.”

“I think I have it here somewhere,” she mused, frowning as she tried to remember where she could have kept it. “I do have it saved in my computer. I could email it.”

Darren laughed. “Come on, Bren. You know Mum’s technologically challenged. She wants to watch it using the old DVD player attached to her TV.”

“Okay, let me look for it.”

“It’s a good sign, isn’t it?” Darren asked hopefully. “That’s she’s really getting interested in things again?”

She smiled. “Yes, I think it’s a good sign.”

After many minutes of searching for the DVD, Brenna had given up looking. “Maybe we should just make another copy,” she suggested. “I have some blank discs lying around.”

“Good idea.”

By the time Darren was ready to leave, half an hour had gone by. She was relieved Darren would be gone by the time Ash arrived. She didn’t think Ash would appreciate Darren hanging around after she’d told him Darren was merely dropping a few things.

She was nervous about seeing Ash today. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going very wrong.





CHAPTER ELEVEN


Ash had to park his car at the end of Brenna’s street, as there were no spots closer to her apartment. Traffic had been light and he had a good run on the roads. He made it there in half an hour instead of the usual forty minutes.

He was walking towards her place when he saw a familiar face exiting her building. Darren. Was he just leaving?

Darren saw him, too. “Ash,” the man said, looking none too pleased to see him.

“Darren. Hi,” he responded, keeping his voice friendly. The guy was going through some tough times and he could sympathise with that.

“Came to see Brenna, did you?” Darren said.

“Yep. I heard you stopped by to drop a few things.”

“Yeah,” Darren answered, standing in front of him like he was preparing for an assault.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mum,” he said softly. “How is she?”

Darren seemed to relax a little. “Not too good. But she’s in much better spirits now than she was last week.”

“Glad to hear,” he murmured.

“I hear you and Brenna are going out,” Darren said.

“Yes. She told me about your...err... arrangement.”

Darren smiled lopsidedly.

“I don’t have a problem with it, Darren. Just don’t take it too far,” he said with clear warning.

“This isn’t easy for Brenna, Ash,” Darren said gravely.

“I know.”

“She feels guilty that this is making you unhappy.”

He nodded. He’d sensed that.

“She feels like she’s being pulled in two different directions,” Darren continued. “She’s hiding her true feelings from you for fear of hurting you.”

He frowned, surprised. “She told you all that?” What else had Brenna confided to Darren?

“Not in those exact words, but yes. I know you care a lot about Brenna, Ash. Although you’ve always had a funny way of showing it.”

“What do you mean?” he asked with a scowl.

“Remember when you happened to mention to her that you saw me go in a cinema with another girl when she and I were on a break?” Darren asked casually, although the dark look in his eyes betrayed him.

Ash reddened, but he remained silent. He’d had suspicions that Darren had been cheating on Brenna, but didn’t have any concrete proof. He’d pulled up Darren and asked him what was going on, only for the idiot to tell him to mind his own business. So Ash had told Brenna. But it turned out the woman Darren had been with was only a cousin.

“I knew even then that you wanted Brenna for yourself, Ash. Well, congratulations. She finally noticed you,” Darren said sarcastically.

Ash fisted his hands, forcing himself not to react to the man’s goading. It was obvious that the antagonism he and Darren had for each other hadn’t lessened with time. “Is there anything else you want to say, Darren? Brenna’s waiting for me inside.”

Darren stared at him, as if considering something. “Brenna said she’s hurt you enough in the past from not realising you’ve had feelings for her for all this time. Heck, even I noticed. I think the fact that everyone saw what she didn’t see for so many years makes her feel all the more guilty. And we both know what Brenna’s like when she feels really guilty, Ash.”

Yes, Ash thought. She overcompensates and does more than what’s necessary.

“I’ll be brutally frank with you,” Darren continued. “I think Brenna’s only with you out of guilt and pity. Christ, you were like a brother to her. She cares enough about you to want to erase the hurt she’s caused you in the past. But do you really know what your relationship is doing to her? Or don’t you want to see the truth because you want to keep her at all costs?”

Ash gaped at Darren, stunned by his words.

“Do the right thing by her, Ash. Give her the space to clarify what she really wants without your presence making her feel guilty,” Darren said, before walking away and getting in his car.