Page 95 of Tamed By You

“Oh, my god, I know who it is.”

“No, you don’t.” I shrug, glancing over at Brad who thankfully has the faucet running and so doesn’t hear our conversation. God bless Brad and his OCD ways. He will have my apartment sparkling before he leaves.

“Do you know where Ria is right now?” Jack says pointing at me.

“No, I don’t. Weirdly enough, I don’t keep tabs on your wife, Jack, because that would be fucking odd,” I say.

He ignores my jab and continues his talk, pacing up and down, like a prosecutor in a courthouse. “Ria is over at Gabby and Ali’s apartment.” I stare at him, trying to keep my face devoid of any emotion.

“So?” I mumble.

“Apparently, Ali hasn’t been at work. She’s not been able to get out of bed. Gabby thought it was the flu at first but called Ria, all worried this morning…”

“That’s terrible. I hear honey and lemon tea is great when you have the flu, maybe drop some of that over to her.” My words sound robotic as they leave my mouth, but it’s because I am trying to bury the pain in my gut, knowing she’s hurting. She’s in pain, suffering, and there’s nothing I can do to help her because she won’t let me in.

“After the wedding, Ali had a trip to Paris for work,” he says still pacing, hands on his hips.

“Really? That’s nice. I hope she had a great time,” I reply flatly.

“And Gabby told Ria that she hadn’t been the same since she got back.”

“Look, as interesting as it is hearing a play-by-play of Ali’s life, I’m a bit busy here. Could you hurry this along?”

He stops right in the way of the TV, a grin widening across his ridiculously good-looking face that I want to wipe off.

“It’s Ali, isn’t it?” he says, folding his arms.

I clear my throat. “Nope,” I reply, popping the P.

“It is, and you did something and fucked it and now you are moping around and—”

“Hey, why did I fuck it up, huh? What if it was her?” I shout and then stop, realizing what I just said. Hating myself because I knew he said what he did to get a reaction out of me.

“Ah ha,” he yells. Pointing a finger at me. “I am right? It is Ali. Ali is the girl you’ve been fooling around with.”

Brad joins us and flops down on the couch next to me, and I glance between him and Jack. There’s an awkward silence and I need to fill it. I start clapping, “Well, shit, Sherlock, it seems you’ve cracked the case. Congratulations, take the rest of the day off.”

Brad snorts a laugh next to me, and I still stare at Jack as his grin falls from his face and is replaced with a softer expression. “Haz what happened?” There is concern in his voice as he lowers himself into the chair.

“I don’t want to talk about it. If you don’t mind seeing yourselves out, I have movie and my fried chicken to get back to.”

“We aren’t leaving till you tell us, and why aren’t you looking more shocked at this revelation.” Jack gives Brad a pointed stare. “Did you know? Am I the only one in the dark here?”

“I caught Ali leaving Harry’s office a few months back and, well, they had to confess. They didn’t want anyone knowing, plusthey feared you and Ria would have them walking up the aisle behind you.”

“Well, not right away.” He sniffs, shrugging his jacket off and resting back into the chair, sensing he’s here for the long haul.

“Start from the beginning. Harry, I’m not leaving till you do.”

So, I do. I open up and tell them everything from the beginning to the gut-wrenching end. They are both silent, no one knowing what to say.

“Wow, I, I wasn’t expecting all that,” Jack says, running a hand through his hair.

“Me either,” I mumble.

“If there’s one thing I know about Ali, it’s that she has her walls up, and for good reason. Those girls had a rough start in life. It took Ria a long time to open up to me, to trust me. When you’ve been hurt in the way they have, it takes time. She’s going to keep pushing you away but going off what you’ve said and how she’s acting right now, I think she feels the same way about you as you do for her. She likely doesn’t believe she’s worthy of your love.”

I nod. He’s right, she’s been pushing me away. She hasn’t said what, but I know something has happened to her to make her so guarded. I just want to help her, make it better, take all the bad things away, and replace them with good.

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