Page 46 of Falling For My Best Friend's Brother

He heaved out his breath, loosening his grip. I stepped back, massaging my arm with a hand.

“Why the fuck was he here?” Knox demanded. “Didn’t you say you’d moved on? Why the fuck was he touching you?”

I felt a stir inside me, something very close to rage. “Why do you care? I thought I was just another one of the women you fuck on some days.”

Knox ran a hand through his hair aggressively, and for a second, I thought he was going to pull some strands out. “Are you doing this to make me jealous? Because I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how absolutely immature and stupid that is.”

I saw red. “How dare you talk to me like that. How dare you tell me you have other women and then get angry when a man shows interest in me!How fucking dare yoube such a hypocrite!”

His eyes widened as he huffed. “I’m a hypocrite? Is that right? Weren’t you the one crying in my car a week ago about how that piece of shit used you and dumped you?”

“Don’t you dare throw that in my face.”

“I know you’re young, but you can’t possibly be this stupid. If he’s back, it only means one thing.”

I nodded, scoffing. “Of course. I mean, yeah. Because every man who looks at me must have ulterior motives, right? Because there’s nothing more to Nina Burton than her bank account balance.” I felt a sharp tickle at the back of my eyes. “Which means it must be the same for you, right? You’ve been fucking me. Who knows? Maybe you did know that Dean Bishop is my godfather. I wonder… did you plan this then, just like Michael did?”

Knox pinched the bridge of his nose, a muscle tightening in his jaw. “Don’t.”

Disappointed, I shook my head at him, backing away several steps. Hurt and anger curled like tendrils inside me and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to get away from him.

“You are the worst, Knox Coleman. The absolute worst.”

I felt the first tears threatening to fall, and I hurried to my room, locking the door behind me. Only then did I let the dam loose.

Chapter seventeen

Knox

Fuck my life.

Fuck everything.

Throwing my head back, I emptied my—fourth, fifth?—glass of the night. I’d lost count of how many refills I’d had since I walked into the bar tonight. All I knew was that I needed to drown myself in alcohol and try to forget the look in Nina’s eyes before she ran away from me. Before I did something crazy like find that Michael asshole and beat him to a pulp.

Fucking hell.What was Nina thinking, letting him into the apartment? Into her life again? How could she not see that the idiot probably remembered how fucking great she was, not to mention generous, and decided that he wasn’t done fucking up her life? Her heart?

Does she still have feelings for him?I racked my brain, trying to think back to that night in my car when she’d bared her heart to me. I might be wrong, but she hadn’t mentioned anything about still being in love with him. Maybe she wasn’t. Maybe she was.

Fuck this.With a hand, I signaled to the bartender, who was engaged in an animated conversation with a brunette. The guy caught my signal, grabbed the bottle of scotch, and hurried over.

“Thanks,” I muttered, gulping about half of the glass. I’d always been able to handle my liquor, but after six glasses or so, my brain was becoming fuzzy. The annoying thing was that the alcohol wasn’t even working. All I could think of was Nina.

The image of that prick holding her hand as they looked into each other’s eyes was burned into my memory. It didn’t matter if I closed or opened my eyes; it was all I saw. The pure rage that had filled me at the sight still stirred underneath the silent buzz of the scotch.

The day hadn’t even been over before I was scrambling to leave the office because I knew Nina would be at home waiting for me, just like she always was. Or rather, I’d thought she was. Sean even commented on how great my mood was. Imagine my fucking surprise to walk through the door and see her locking hands with the same man whom she’d confessed to me days ago was her first love.

I could be pissed, couldn’t I?

Are you, really? Sure, Nina wasn’t right and you’re truly being a hypocrite?

I let out a huff. I was acting crazy. Hadn’t I been the one to say that it was just sex? Hadn’t I told her I fucked other women, even if it was a lie? I hadn’t touched another woman since Claire, and that was months ago. But at the time, it seemed like the best thing to tell Nina because I didn’t want her to have expectations.

So, why the fuck was I angry? Sure, we had a fuckbuddy situationship going on, which was even more raw and complex because we were roommates, but that was about it. I didn’t owe her anything, just like she didn’t owe me anything.

I was blinded by how fucking great our chemistry in bed was. When everything was said and done, Nina wasn’t the sort of woman I was usually interested in. Take my ex, Claire, for example. She was poised, mature, driven—she was a sports nutritionist—and, most importantly, she was a fully grown woman of thirty who had her shit together. The exact opposite of everything Nina was.

I wasn’t looking to sit around and babysit in a relationship. I needed a partner who was independent and capable of making their own choices without constant reassurance. Things might not have worked out with Claire, but it didn’t change the fact that she was my ideal woman.

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