Page 77 of Unspoken Rules

I hug him back even tighter. “Yeah, yeah. Stop being so mushy. It’s gross.”

He chuckles. “I’m going to shower. Then bed. I’m fucking beat.”

I glance toward the windows. “It’s not even dark.”

“It’s been a long week. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Chris heads upstairs. I stare down the hall, knowing I need to talk to Cole and not a single part of me wants to, regardless of the reason. I don’t want to be in the middle of this, of them, but I have to. For Chris.

With my head held high, I move down the hallway and knock on Cole’s open office door.

“Everything okay?” he asks, brows furrowed.

“Can I come in?”

He turns the chair to face me and nods. So I walk inside and stop a few feet from him, knowing distance is the best thing. His scent is my weakness.

“Chris is fine. Guess he’s staying here again, but he wanted me to let you know he isn’t ready to talk yet.”

Cole nods but doesn’t look happy about it.

I continue. “I convinced him to go to breakfast on Sunday mornings. I know how much that means to you. And he said he would, but he still needs space. Oh, and he’s going to stop drinking.”

“Seriously?” he blurts, eyes going wide.

“That’s what he said,” I say with a shrug.

He blows out a breath, shaking his head. “Fuck, that is relieving.”

I nod awkwardly and take a step back because I don’t want to be here. “All right then. I’ll see you later.” I turn, but he grips my wrist. I pause, sucking in a breath, hating the way his hand feels on me. So warm. So comforting.

“Thank you, Bryson. You don’t know how much this means to me. I swear you’re the only person who can get through to him.”

I squeeze my eyes shut, taking a long inhale through my nose before letting it out slowly. I glance at him and smile, but the emotion coursing through me has me wanting to throw up.

Mystery date. Fucking her on the desk. Big tits. STDs.

I pull my arm free, harder than necessary, and Cole frowns. He looks hurt, which guts me. But it has to be this way.

“Well, that’s what best friends are for.” I force another smile and leave. And as I head upstairs, I feel both proud of myself for not falling into Cole when I had the chance, but also really fucking stupid.

…for not falling into Cole when I had the chance.

Chapter Thirty

Bryson

I’m triggered by Tuesdays.

It’s terrible. Especially since I don’t work on Tuesdays, so I spend the entire day stewing. Though, I’m almost done with this painting gig. I have maybe another week or so left of work to do. I haven’t gained the courage to talk to Troy about apprenticing, like Chris convinced me to. I’ve also been doing a shitty job of finding a better job. I’ve put in a few applications online, but I’m not working nearly as hard as I should be. There is this overwhelming fear of losing my mind completely if I keep getting rejected by jobs. A guy can only handle so much.

So because it’s Tuesday evening and well past the time Cole is typically home, but he still isn’t, I’m curled up in bed watching movies because I can’t find anything else to distract me. Not that this is doing any good either, but it’s better than the quiet. When my door bursts open, I jump, thanks to the scary ass movie I’m watching.

“Christ, it smells in here! What the hell have you been doing? Jerking off all day?”

Chris flops onto my bed, kicks his shoes off, and gets under the blankets with me.

Shit, we haven’t done this since we were kids.

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