Page 64 of Unspoken Rules

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bryson

I head inside the house and walk down the hallway, planning to go upstairs. Light shining from Cole’s office further down the hall stops me. I tell myself I’m not going to go in there to make sure he’s okay or try to make amends. Maybe what happened was a good thing. My head needs to be in the right place, and that place isn’t caught up with Cole. In fact, I don’t think I should focus on Chris either.

What I need to do is focus on myself and get the hell out of this house.

Yes, I feel bad for what’s going on with them, but it truly is none of my business. I can’t get involved in their problems. I have enough of my own.

But in order to get out of this house, I need money. Meaning, I need work. So I head down the hallway to Cole’s office.

I knock on the open door and Cole looks up but doesn’t say anything. His eyes aren’t as bright as they usually are, and he hasn’t showered yet.

“I need a few things from you to finish up the website,” I say as professionally as I can.

“Email me a list of whatever you need,” he says, all business-like.

He turns his attention back to the computer.

I grit my teeth. This is what needs to happen, so I need to stop getting mad over it.

His shoulders are tense, jaw set. He’s still pissed. Obviously upset. Though, I’m pretty sure it isn’t only about me. It’s mostly about Chris. I want to tell him what I learned today, but I don’t. That’s crossing a line, and we’ve done enough of that.

Neither of us should have gotten caught up in the other. It was wrong on so many levels. Now here we are. We have to deal with it. We’re both adults and it’s time to move on.

“I don’t have your email.”

“Text then,” he answers, this time without looking at me.

A question rests on the tip of my tongue.

Are you sure you don’t know why Chris is mad? Think long and hard about all the things you’ve done.

I want to ask. See if he knows. But I won’t. Breaking Chris’s trust isn’t fair. Chris didn’t tell me not to talk to his father about it, but that goes without saying. Why in the world would I share something like that with his father? Cole and I were never close like that. Why would we be now? Chris has no idea Cole and I talk about things or have touched each other’s dicks. Of course he’ll never know the second part, but I’m not going to betray my friend. And more than that, I need to stop putting myself in that position with Cole. It’s only making things worse.

I turn without another word and go to my room. After throwing on a pair of sweats, I grab my laptop and get comfortable in bed. The list of what I need from Cole is on my computer, so I pull it up and type it into a text to Cole. I also add quick directions on how to check the website without publishing it. This way he can see if he likes what I have so far. Lastly, I add my email and ask him to email me everything I need because it’ll be better quality. I read it over a few times, making sure it sounds professional, and I hit send.

Then I do something I haven’t done in a long time and download a dating app. The same stupid app I met Daniel on and the one other guy I casually dated and hooked up with before him. A relationship should not be a priority to me, and it won’t be, but I need a distraction.

And the old saying goes—to get over someone, you have to get under someone else.

If I can focus my attention on another guy, it’ll be easier to get my head straight with Cole, because all I am is a confused fucking mess over the entire thing.

I’m scrolling through profiles when an email from Cole pops up. I open it and see everything I asked for. And nothing else. That kind of pisses me off, but again, for the best. So I close out of the email, and go back to the app.

I’m surprised how many attractive guys there are in this area. A few of them match back quickly, but I don’t message them. I’ve never had the confidence to make the first move—even if I am hidden behind a phone. I always feel awkward sending the first message. Desperate or something. So I wait until they message me. Sometimes I wonder if they match me accidentally by clicking the wrong button, and I do not deal with rejection well. All I need is to message someone and they ask me why the hell I’m talking to them.

After a while, I get bored with scrolling and grab my laptop to finish working on Cole’s website. Once it’s finished, I won’t have any reason to talk to him.

I save all the files he sent me and get to work plugging them in where they go. He said everything on the site looks good, so I don’t need to do much. I’m surprised he already had some reviews ready, but he probably had that lying around for this purpose. When I’m finished, I email him back to let him know I’m done and to check it out one last time. When he does, and says everything is good, I make the site live, and send him one last email to let him know. At the bottom, I ask if it’s okay that I use it for my resume, to which he responds and says yes.

And that’s that. It’s done. End of the conversation. I put my laptop away and lie on my back. It’s late, so I should get to sleep. Getting into the habit of being up all night and sleeping all day isn’t good, especially since my goal is to get a day shift. But I’m wide awake. A result of sleeping half the day and the annoyance coursing through me over the conversation with Chris and how easy it is for Cole to be so damn cold toward me.

After a while of my skin crawling, I figure I should take a shower.

I head into Chris’s room, knowing he won’t care if I use his shower. His bathroom is cluttered to hell. Not dirty, but there is stuff everywhere. Bottles of cologne all over the counter. Hair products, soaps, shampoos… some on the counter, some on the floor. A ton in the shower.

“Damn, Chris. How much shit do you need?” I mutter, moving stuff on the counter to make room for my clothes and towel.

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