Page 39 of Mr. Broody

I hugged him again, my fingers running down his wet button-down shirt. Wet from my tears. I couldn’t help but notice that he was stronger, more muscular than he had been the last time I’d seen him. He’d been training harder was my guess. His jaw was more defined, and his boyish good looks had turned masculine and gorgeous. All I wanted was for him to make the pain go away.

He drove me to the restaurant, and we sheltered ourselves away from everyone as much as we could. If only Waylon and Owen would have left us alone, but they had a million questions for Henry. Reed and Henry talked at the bar, and I watched them exchange a hug, with Reed patting him on the back. I was sure he was telling Henry how proud he was of him. Henry’s life was finally piecing back together while I felt as though mine was crumbling.

Mom had told me two weeks ago that Henry was adopting a son, and I wanted to ask him about it, but I also wanted him to tell me himself. I wanted to be invited into his life, to hear about his decision, but since we’d broken up after college, we never really talked like we used to. Since he didn’t say anything, I took it as a sign our relationship wasn’t in a place where he trusted to let me in.

At the end of the day, I hugged my mom and my brothers goodbye. Reed was supposed to be driving me to the hotel, but Henry came over and took my suitcase from Reed’s hands.

“I’ll drive her,” Henry said. “I have to fly out tomorrow anyway.”

Reed nodded a thank you and hugged me before he slipped into his own car and drove away.

The car ride to the airport hotel was quiet, and after I checked in, Henry escorted me to my room. My body was buzzing with the expectation that he’d follow me inside, strip me bare, and make me forget it all. I held the door open for him, and he hesitated in the hallway, but eventually he stepped inside and pulled me into him. His lips were on mine before the door even clicked shut.

“God, Henry.” I panted as his lips were everywhere on me.

This was us. This was what I had been expecting when I saw him at the bottom of the stairs. To feel his skin on mine. To feel his calloused palms cup my breasts. To feel his scruff along my inner thighs. To feel safe, and wanted, and loved.

We pulled and tugged, undressing ourselves and each other, wanting the same thing, our connection that we both craved to feel again. As I had his pants unzipped and my hand was about to slide under his boxer briefs, he tore his lips from mine and stepped back.

I leaned forward, not understanding why he was stopping. “Henry?”

He stared at me, breathing hard, and the longer the seconds ticked by, the more the lust vanished from his eyes. “I can’t do this.” His expression was tortured as he zipped himself back into his pants, buckled his belt, and didn’t bother to button his shirt or tuck it in. Stepping forward, he kissed my cheek. “Goodbye, Jade.”

He rushed out of the room and out the door while the pain and embarrassment of his rejection hit me like a punch to the face.

And that was the last time I saw or talked to him.

Seventeen

Henry

I honestly can’t believe Jade agreed to come to my condo. Guiding her toward my place with the intention of asking her to come up and talk was taking a chance that she’d run.

Jade doesn’t like to address anything that makes her uncomfortable, whereas I always want everything to be cleared up, or it feels as though a dark cloud looms over my head. Maybe I was born like that or maybe the deaths of my parents and always feeling as though there’s a chance I won’t get to say what I want to is the reason I hate anything to be unsettled. I still remember the first time I met Jade and told her that my parents had died in a car accident. As though if I told people right away, it wouldn’t be a big deal, and maybe they wouldn’t look at me like they always did when they heard that news.

I walk her to the security gate and press in the code.

“Why do you live here?” she asks, looking at The Nest sign and the notes that have been affixed all around it.

I pull the gate open, and we both walk through, allowing it to shut behind us. The urge to take her lips grips me now that there aren’t any prying eyes. I wish I could push her up against the wall, run my nose down the length of her neck, and hear the purr of a moan in her throat, smell her perfume before taking her lips.

“You think I’m a bad dad.” I step on the first cement stair and wait for her to join me.

“I didn’t say that.”

“But?”

She shrugs, walking with me up the stairs to my condo. “It doesn’t seem very kid-friendly.”

I laugh. There are nights it’s not, but Tweetie has been more settled since the season started.

When we reach my door, I hear another door open above, then Conor comes bounding down the stairs.

He stops, stares, and bites his lip to keep from smirking. “Hey.”

He jogs down the rest of the steps until he reaches us. He’s wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with a ball cap. Now that the team is doing well, he’s getting recognized more.

“Jade, right?” Conor asks, stopping on the landing in front of my place. He puts out his hand.

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