Page 55 of The Brothers Next Door

I forced myself to smile at the man I once loved. I really could have sworn there had been a knock. “Are you set to go?”

He hesitated. “Yes, I’d say I’m done here.” Standing, he came towards me and I backed away, allowing him to pass. If he thought he was going to get a hug then he was sadly mistaken. The only thing I wanted from him was to have him out of my house.

Walking over to the door, I pulled it open and waved him out. “Have a safe drive home.”

Nodding, he paused yet another second. Was he thinking if he dragged his heels long enough I’d reconsider?

I had news for him.

“Goodbye, Craig.”

Giving me a final nod, he walked past me and left. I didn’t bother to see if he got onto the elevator. I simply closed the door, glad he was gone. I had more important things to concern myself with right now, like getting ready for work and making it there on time.

Rushing into the bedroom, I sat down at my vanity and quickly applied a thin layer of make-up. I simply didn’t have time for a full look today. Once done, I hurried from my bedroom, grabbed my purse, slipped on my shoes, and left.

~*~TT~*~

Nate

We’d agreed to wait until after our shifts to talk to Layla. Text messages were so impersonal and if we were to reconcile then it should be face-to-face. But I was never a man who sat around and waited. I needed to see her now and Darrin was tied up at the station. When I say tied up I mean, confined to office work until all Black Skulls arrests had been made and the suspects relocated.

So here I was sitting outside of Layla’s office building waiting for her to emerge for her lunch break. Darrin might be a little pissed at first, but once we had her back, that was all that would matter to him.

She had lunch at the same time every day, like clockwork. Most days either myself or Darrin would meet her for lunch, sometimes both of us. Looking down at the dozen yellow roses sitting in the passenger seat, I wondered if I should have gotten red. God, I was so damned horrible at this romantic shit.

And then she appeared. She didn’t hesitate. She turned right and began making her way up the sidewalk at a brisk pace. My entire body went rigid and a shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins upon seeing her. I’d never been this excited to see a woman in my life. It had only been a few days since our blow-up, but it felt like months.

I was just getting out of the patrol car when I caught sight of someone in uniform to the right of the office building doors. I recognized the officer, it was Darrin with a bouquet of red roses. Fuck, I knew I should have gone with red. How in the hell did he get off the desk work? No doubt he was right about what color she preferred. Besides, red was love, yellow was friendship, wasn’t it. Fuck if I knew. Maybe I needed to start watching some chick flicks to get the knack of being romantic.

It’s not a competition, I told myself. It would never work if we continued to make this a competition.

My first instinct was to go to Layla, but upon giving it some thought, I decided meeting up with Darrin first would be the best solution. I ran across the street to meet up with Darrin.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him, cutting him off at the pass.

He stopped and stared at me—he didn’t look overly thrilled to see me. “I’d ask you the same thing. I thought we’d agreed after work?”

“We had. Weren’t you on a desk for this week?”

“I get lunch breaks.”

Looking over my shoulder, I caught sight of Layla’s dark hair flying out behind her as she rounded the corner. “Since we’re here, with flowers, I guess we approach her now and get this figured out once and for all.” It was more of a statement than an actual question.

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