Page 71 of Myself

She places her hands on the countertop and drops her head. “I really don’t wanna fight right now, Jaycent.”

I walk up behind her and place my hands on her hips. “I don’t want to fight either.” I lower my face down to her neck, and she moans when I bite into her flesh. “I’d rather go to bed,” I say, reaching up and pulling on her shirt to expose her shoulder. I kiss it. “How does that sound?” She spins in my arms and leans up to place her lips on mine. I open and kiss her deeply, and my hands wander down to cup her ass.

My head snaps up when I hear Ashlyn’s door open. Becca and I stand as we watch him too walk to the door, his bag dragging behind him. Ashlyn follows him, ignoring us. “Where are you going?” she asks him.

I feel for the man. The woman he loves is standing right in front of him, and she doesn’t feel the same. I’ve loved Becca for years now, and when she was so far out of reach, there were days I thought I’d be better off dying than spend another day without her. I lean down and kiss her hair.

She swallows. “Bradley. I don’t wanna lose you.”

He looks away from her, and his jaw sharpens in anger. “And I didn’t wanna just be your friend. But we can’t all get what we want.” Then he turns around and walks out, shutting the door softly behind him.

I lean down and whisper into Becca’s ear, “That was awkward.” Becca pulls away from me and rams her elbow into my stomach, making me cough. Moments later, Ashlyn turns around and storms off to her room, and Becca follows after her.

I run a hand through my hair. I don’t know what to do. I’m not even sure what I just saw. I don’t really know Ashlyn all that well. The girls have only been here in New York for three weeks now, and I have spent all my time with Becca. I felt like I needed to make up for lost time. Plus, Ryder was spending all his time with Ashlyn, so it just worked out. I thought that Ashlyn and Ryder were it. Then this dude flies into New York earlier today, and Ashlyn swears they’re just best friends. And I was like okay, men and women can be friends. Then he tried to kiss her, and she totally pushed him away. I knew something was off. But I didn’t question it because it’s not my place, right?

But Ryder is my best friend. And I’ve seen him with women before and never have I seen him look at someone the way he looked at her. He loves her. Any fool can see that. And she just proved to me she loves him.

Thinking I can help the situation, I pull my phone out of my back pocket and go to Ryder’s name. “What are you doing?” Becca calls out as she enters the kitchen.

“Calling Ryder,” I state right before the phone is ripped from my hand.

“Are you crazy?” she snaps. “Just what are you going to say to him?”

“I’m trying to calm the situation.” He needs to get his ass back here right now.

She places her hand on her hip and points at my chest with her hand that holds my phone hostage. “You can’t just call him right after he leaves. He doesn’t even know you’re here.”

I point back at the bedroom. “Your best friend is back there crying because your brother just walked out on her. Don’t you think he deserves to know the truth?”

She sighs heavily. “I’ll call him. On my phone.”

I nod. “Good idea.” She goes to open her mouth to speak, but there’s a knock on the door. “Did you text him?” she demands, looking up at me from the door.

“No,” I snap. She’s the one holding my phone.

Her eyes narrow on me, and there’s another knock. She moves to head toward the door, and I place my arm out to stop her. “I’ll get it.” I walk over to the door and look through the peephole. To my surprise, it’s Bradley. “Stay inside,” I tell Becca.

“Who is it?” she asks. I don’t answer and open the door and walk out, letting it shut behind me.

“Thought you left,” I say to Bradley, blocking the door. I liked this guy when I first met him a few hours ago but now, not so much.

He runs his hands through his hair nervously. “I need to speak to Ashlyn.”

“I think you’ve said enough,” I say although I don’t know exactly what he said to her. I just heard them yelling back and forth.

“Jaycent, is it?” he says with an arch of his brow. Bastard, he knows my damn name. “No offense, but you have no idea what is going on between us.”

“Oh, I know enough.” I cross my arms over my chest.

His jaw sharpens. “Which is?”

“I know she’s not in love with you like you are with her,” I say matter-of-factly. “I also know that both of you walked out of her apartment, and you’re not the one she followed.”

He sighs heavily. “My relationship with Ashlyn is complicated.”

“Friendship,” I correct him. “I don’t see any kind of relationship there,” I say honestly.

“Because you don’t know ...” He cuts himself off as he raises his voice. He clears his throat. “I’m not like him.” I arch a brow in question at that. “I’m not going to walk away as easily as he did.”

---