Page 2 of Get Undressed With Me

His eyes met hers, much colder than she was used to. Gus spent his time being the quiet but amiable companion. He had joined her and Robbie on many nights out, and Brittany hadnever minded having him along. Sometimes, he was the only one who could keep Robbie from causing a scene or pissing someone off, and Brittany was often relieved he was there. Now, however, she wished he had just stayed home.

“Killer, what the fuck are you doing?”

She frowned at the nickname. They had done a day of paintball for Robbie’s birthday last year, a tradition the Lozano family had done since they were kids. Robbie had bragged about his skills for a straight week before the match, which meant when Brittany had smoked him over and over again, he had left the facility as pissed off as a child denied candy, and Gus had bestowed her with a new nickname. The fight her and Robbie had that night had been epic, and she hated being reminded of it.

She focused on the present day, shutting him down.

“Don’t worry about it, Gus.”

“You’re trespassing. Destroying his property. What the hell are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking your brother is a bag of douches, and I’m tired of it.”

Gus pinched the bridge of his nose, something she had only seen him do when he was dealing with Robbie’s bullshit. There was some slight satisfaction in seeing his demeanor crack when she was the one causing it.

“I thought you guys had a friendly break.”

Brittany snorted. “Yeah, well, turns out that wasn’t the case.”

“Do I want to know?”

“Do you ever?”

They glared at each other, and Brittany felt the thrill of victory that she had managed to rile him up. Gus was always so calm, so cool, so collected in the face of almost any situation. He worked for a security company, offering personal security to people rich enough to afford it. He was used to dealing withassholes, and with having to take charge in stressful situations. And apparently, Brittany now qualified as a stressful situation.

She might get a T-shirt made. Her followers would love it.

“You need to go. Robbie’s coming home tomorrow. He won’t be happy to find you here.”

“I wasn’t planning on staying.”

Just then, a spark sizzled from the computer’s tower, flying up into the air before dissipating into nothing. Gus strode toward the wall, brushing past her.

“Hey, don’t—”

Ignoring her, he pulled the cord out of the wall, dropping it on the ground. When he turned back, she couldn’t help but notice how tall he was, how straight his shoulders were, how solid he seemed. It was unfair that men got to be big and strong, especially when they were being jerks.

“You’ve made your point, Brittany. He broke up with you and moved on, and you’re pissed about it. Not sure why you needed to destroy his stuff, but it’s past time for you to leave.”

Brittany burned at the implications.

“Is that the story he told you? That I’m pissed he moved on?”

“That, and something about how you only dated him for clout. And honestly, I’m not really seeing any evidence here to refute that.”

Brittany flattened her mouth into a line. In all the time they had been hanging out, she had known she and Gus weren’t close. When they had first met, she had set out to get to know him, wanting to be friends. But even from that first meeting, he had always seemed to keep her at a distance. Gus was Robbie’s older brother, older than Brittany’s twenty-seven by about four years, although if you knew the brothers, the age difference felt like more. Robbie was impulsive and outgoing and loud, whereas Gus was quiet, steady, solid. Something about him thinking she was jealous of Robbie dating a new woman was rubbing her thewrong way, but she refused to show Gus that. So instead, she flipped her hair, a practiced move that had gotten her a number of free drinks at bars and gave him her best smile.

“That’s me. Just your run-of-the-mill bitter ex-girlfriend.”

His eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Okay, killer, time to go.”

Gus took her arm in a grip that was firm but not bruising and pulled her out of the room toward the door. Brittany made a weak attempt to get away, tripping to keep up with his longer stride.

“Hey, hands off. Us bitter women don’t like men grabbing us.”

He dropped her arm, opened the front door, and gestured for her to leave.

“Have a good night. Don’t come back.”

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