Page 57 of Taylor

He was barely aware that Cash and Conner had joined him, and all he could do was glare at his Technicolor girl who was trapped in black and white.

Closing his eyes, he took a breath.

Women had the way to dress anyway they wanted. He had been told that his entire life. But why was she so different? Why did it feel like this is not how she wanted to be? It just felt out of place, and his brain was stuck on the wrongness of it all.

“Taylor?” Sasha asked with concern coloring her voice. “Have you met Alice? She is the newest member of the social media team?”

He’d met Alice, but he felt like he didn’t know this person. His eyes stayed fixed on her. Her mouth parted and breath hitched, and he wanted to move to her to hug her to do anything, but he just stood there, frozen.

“I have to go,” she said before turning and quickly making her way down the hallway.

He could tell she was crying, and he knew he was coming off as a dick, but he just couldn’t seem to get his brain to do what he wanted.

“What was that about? Was that Coach’s daughter?” Conner asked.

Fuck. Taylor closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath, but it wouldn’t come. He needed to get out of here, but he was stuck.

“You guys head out, I’ll catch up,” said Cash.

Conner gave him a careful nod, and they all headed out.

Cash just stood there next to him. He had no idea how much time had passed, but when he finally got a hold of himself, Cash was still there next to him, just existing.

Taylor was finally able to take a deep breath.

“You good?” Cash asked.

“She doesn’t look like that” was all Taylor could manage to say.

“What do you mean?” Cash asked, confusion drawing his brow.

“Alice . . . she doesn’t look like that usually.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Did he want to talk about it? Not really, but he probably should. But how was he going to tell him that he hooked up with Coach’s daughter and had feelings for her?

Taylor looked around and saw they were in the hallway alone. “So, you know how I went to Coach’s cabin over the holiday?”

Cash’s mouth dropped open . . .

Of course Cash would know where it was going. Before he dated Evie, he was a playboy.

“Alice was there. And we had a really nice time together. I thought we were dating, but then when I saw her... it was like she wasn’t even the same person.”

“Okay,” Cash said slowly, trying to figure it all out. “What do you mean she doesn’t look like that? If you guys have been dating since Christmas, wouldn’t you know what she looks like?”

“Well... I haven’t seen her since we left the cabin, but when we were there, she had this beautiful colored hair, and she was just so full of life... but now?—”

“You’re dating, but you haven’t seen her since then?”

Taylor shook his head. “I’ve been kind of wrapped up with work.”

“But wouldn’t she tell you if she was working here or whatever?”

“I haven’t talked to her since we left.” Once he said that, he realized he’d fucked up. “Which I can see is my bad.”

“Dude, if you want to date a woman, you have to actually talk to her.”

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