Page 40 of Get Undressed With Me

He said it with more gravity than he expected, but he meant it. After a weird, tense moment, she deliberately turned her attention back to the show, and Gus followed her lead,reminding himself of the list of reasons he needed to chill around her. The reasons that were getting harder and harder to remember.

CHAPTER 10

BRITTANY

Brittany woke suddenly, her vague dream of falling slamming her back into reality faster than her brain could compute. With a few blinks, she realized Gus was gone and her foot was now carefully propped up on a pillow with a Post-it Note stuck to it.

Grabbing food for dinner. Back later. Don’t move from this couch. I mean it.

She smiled at the bossy note, imagining his frown as he was writing it. A glance at the coffee table also showed her he had piled various snacks and drinks there for her to easily reach, along with the bottle of anti-inflammatories. Gus may be grouchy as fuck, but he was a hell of a nurse.

Brittany slipped his note into the pocket of her shorts with a wiggle and then gingerly attempted to stand. She had no desire to leave the condo while he was gone and race around the city, but the bathroom was calling her.

She gently tested to make sure her ankle would hold weight and then did a combination of a limp and a hop to the bathroom. After taking care of her business, Brittany washed her hands and got her first glimpse of herself since that morning.

She looked like hell.

Her mascara was smudged under her eyes, with one fake lash coming away from her eyelid in an attempt at freedom. Her lipstick was long gone, and her foundation and careful contouring only a memory, allowing her faint freckles to show through.

She pulled out her phone and took a quick mirror selfie to post on her social media. While she was a fashion person, Brittany believed in showing her followers the real side of her life, the less than perfect moments that made her human and reminded all of them that they were in this world together. Her mom hated when she did it, but Brittany didn’t care. She wanted to show the reality of herself as much as the online glam image.

She posted the photo just as she heard the front door to the condo open. Brittany yelled through the door.

“Don’t be mad. I had to use your bathroom. It couldn’t be helped. But I swear I’m going right back to the couch.”

She opened the door and limped her way out of the bathroom… only to come face-to-face with Robbie. The shocked look he was giving her would’ve been priceless if she wasn’t so certain it matched her own. It only took seconds for his expression to transform into the sneer she had become familiar with since they broke up.

“You sure don’t waste any time, do you?” His tone was dripping with judgment, which sent Brittany’s back up.

“You better watch your fucking tone, Robbie. Even with a bad ankle, I could still fuck you up.”

She was barefoot, her five-foot-four inches barely coming to his shoulder because the stupid Lozano genes were tall, but shestuck her finger right in his face, her glare a palpable source of fierce energy.

He just shook his head. “I should’ve known. What is it? You needed a place to stay for the convention, so you conned him into letting you shack up here? Bat those baby blues at him and let him touch you? You’re so fucking transparent, Brittany.”

“Don’t be disgusting. Your brother’s been a gentleman, and you’re acting like a jealous turd.”

“Why would I be jealous? I’m the one that’s moved on, remember.”

“Yeah, I heard. You ‘moved on’ before we even broke up.”

Brittany hadn’t meant to bring his infidelity up, but her temper often got away from her, and to tell the truth, she wasn’t sorry. From the way Robbie’s eyes narrowed into a glare, they were apparently going to have the fight they should’ve had months ago when Brittany had gotten a message from Devery, Min’s little sister. A message with a link to a social media page featuring a nutritionist and her latest boyfriend. That boyfriend? Robbie.

When Brittany did a deep dive into social media, she discovered Robbie had been cheating on her for months with several women, and she’d had no idea. Hell, there was actual photo evidence of it out in the world, photos that people all over had liked and shared and commented on while Brittany had blindly trusted him. Believed that he was as committed as she was.

“You left long before I did, Brittany.”

The memory of that moment, of clicking on the link from Dev and seeing exactly what Robbie had been doing behind her back, hit Brittany like a truck. And she abruptly decided she was done being the nice guy.

“Is that bullshit what you tell yourself to justify cheating on me?”

“Maybe I’m finally telling you the truth about our relationship, which you seem keen on ignoring.”

“That’s some real gaslighting bullshit you got going on there, Robbie. And it’s not going to work on me anymore, so how about trying an apology.”

“An apology? That’s rich coming from the girl who destroyed my hard drives.”

She got closer to him, not backing down.

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