Page 42 of Get Undressed With Me

Brittany perked up. Who was Annabelle?

Gus was shaking his head. “From what I’ve heard, this is a completely different situation.”

Robbie glared. “Fine. If that’s true, if you both are really just here because of his job, then promise me there’s nothing more.”

Gus rolled his eyes. “Robbie, there’s nothing more.”

“Promise me there won’t be.”

Gus went silent at that, and when Robbie swung his eyes to Brittany, she found herself instinctively looking at Gus. Their eyes met in this moment, memories of the elevator, of him holding her in the crowd at the convention center, of her hand in his, and an impossible feeling bubbled to the surface, a thought suddenly so clear that Brittany wondered how she hadn’t seen it before.

I can’t.

Shaking off that revelation, Brittany turned to Robbie.

“You lost the privilege of telling me what to do when you cheated on me. Feel free to go fuck yourself hard with a hammer.”

Betrayal and rage clouded Robbie’s expression.

“Just fucking great.” He stormed toward the door, getting close to Gus on his way out for one last blast of ire and sarcasm.

“Finally getting what you want, aren’t you, big brother?”

He was out the door, slamming it shut behind him before either of them could react. The sound echoed in the suddenly quiet condo, leaving them both in the awkward aftermath of the fight.

Gus recovered faster than she did, seeming to shake off the tension and turn to where she was standing.

“You need to get off that ankle.”

“It’s fine,” she said automatically.

“I can see you wincing from here. And you’re leaning against the wall to stay off it.”

He approached her, taking her arm to gently lead her back to the couch. He fussed over her ankle while she watched him, the gears in her head spinning.

“What did Robbie mean?” she finally asked, not being able to wait anymore. He didn’t look at her.

“He didn’t mean anything, he was just being Robbie.”

“Seemed pretty pointed at the end there.”

Gus finished with her ankle, finally happy with its position, then turned back to where he left the groceries. Clearly, he wasn’t going to answer her question, and she kinda realized that was for the best. She wasn’t certain she was ready to hear his answer. But she did feel Robbie had painted a picture of her she didn’t want Gus to believe.

“For the record, I wanted it to work with him,” she found herself confessing. “On paper, he was everything I was looking for. For a while, I thought he was the one.”

“What changed for you?”

He still wasn’t looking at her, instead focusing on slicing up vegetables and other surprises for dinner, but Brittany knew without a doubt she had his full attention. That’s how Gus was—he listened.

“Min met Hayden.”

The memories from last year flooded back, all the horrible things Min went through. But also her connection with Hayden, how quickly and utterly they had fallen for each other. After the tournament, Brittany watched Min become even more confident, more sure of herself with Hayden in her corner, their connection deep and real and unbreakable.

And Brittany had realized she wanted that. Pretty badly, if she was being honest. And that person, the one who would have her back and build her confidence, who she would love unconditionally through thick and thin… wasn’t Robbie.

“They were it for each other,” is what she told Gus. “And something in watching them fight tooth and nail to be together made me realize I wanted that. Maybe it’s dumb, because I don’t think everyone gets a love like that. But still. I wanted to try.”

He paused in his chopping, finally looking up to where she was on the couch, and the burning in his eyes took Brittany’s breath away.

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