Page 4 of Never Kiss and Tell

Bailey steps to the railing beside me, placing her soft hand on the banister.

“As good as can be expected. She . . .” Bailey stops, shaking her head. “I don’t think it’s really hit her yet.”

Of course not. Andi flies by the seat of her pants. It’s not often something gets ahead of her that she doesn’t know how to handle. Losing Mom, I’m sure, has been enough to make her falter and she’s not sure how to handle that.

“She’s resilient. She’ll bounce back.”

Bailey peers up at me, pausing. I know she’s looking at the bags under my eyes and the cut along my jaw from a shitty bar fight I’d been in two days ago.

“How are you holding up?” she asks, stepping closer to me until her arm brushes mine. My body hums when met with the warmth of hers. She bites her bottom lip and I resist the urge to pluck it from her teeth with my finger.

God, she’s so fucking pretty and sweet. It would be so easy to lose myself in her for a couple days, rather than deal with everything I’m feeling.

“I’ve been better,” I murmur, looking away.

“I know it’s hard,” Bailey starts, placing her hand on mine. “I lost my dad at twelve and it was the worst thing I’ve ever livedthrough.” With her other hand she pulls a locket from between her breasts and opens it for me to see a picture of a man with dark hair and the same blue eyes that currently stare straight into my soul. “I think about him every day, but eventually, the guilt and the grief subside and you’re left to really process that they aren’t here anymore. It takes time, and it will always hurt, but what gets me through is knowing he didn’t take my love for him when he went. I can still feel it, even if he’s not here.”

I didn’t realize her dad was dead. Both of us stare at each other in silence, not sure what to say. I’m not even sure Icansay anything. Despite everything, my cock twitches in my pants, filling me with guilt. With just Bailey and I on the terrace, a sudden buzz hangs in the air, drowning out all the noise from the streets below.

Bailey licks her bottom lip, looking from my eyes to my mouth. If I were doing literally anything else besides burying my mother, I would kiss her, just to see if she tastes as sweet as she is.

The door to the venue cracks open and Bailey quickly takes a step back, seemingly broken out of a trance. The same prick I saw with Bailey last time peaks his head out, his eyes narrowing on me for only a second before he stalks up beside Bailey and wraps an arm around her shoulders and tugs her into his side a little too hard.

“Babe, your mom’s on the phone. She wants to know when we’re coming home.”

I’ve barely spoken with Drew, but something about the way he looks at me pisses me off. The hair on the back of my neck stands up and I clench my fists that are still shoved in mypockets. I try to wrap my head around the sudden possessiveness that fights its way through me. I have no claim to Bailey, yet I want to smash this guy’s head to a fucking pulp for ever laying a finger on her.

“I’ll be there in a minute. Will you find Savannah and make sure she isn’t drinking?” she replies, ducking out from under his arm. She closes her locket and tucks it back between her breasts. My eyes can’t help but follow the movement and Drew notices, his eyes narrowing on mine.

My blood heats beneath my skin. Stuck-up frat boy, probably flew down here on Daddy’s money? I can fucking take him. It would feel so good to release the tension that’s been wreaking havoc on my muscles since Mom died.

“Drew?” Bailey snaps, waving a hand in front of his face.

“Anything you want, baby,” he murmurs coldly, before turning and trudging back inside.

Bailey turns back to me, giving me an apologetic smile. “Do you want me to bring you some food out here? I won’t tell anyone where you snuck off to.”

She tucks a strand of hair that had caught in the wind back behind her ear and I catch the glint of the new ring on her finger. My blood turns cold, snuffing out the warmth that she had brought.

Of course, Bailey’s fucking engaged. Why wouldn’t she be? With the body of a porn star and the patience and kindness of a nun, I should have known that prick she’s with would want to marry her before he lost her.

Maybe it’s for the best. . . the small voice in the back of my head chimes. I’m an asshole. The same asshole that basicallymurdered his mother. I’d left her there, alone in that house, knowing she was sick.

I would darken the light in Bailey’s eyes. My bad would bleed into her good like the cancer that took over Mom’s body.

I need to walk away from Bailey before I even come close.

“If I want something, I’ll get it,” I snap, a little harsher than I mean to. It works, though, because Bailey takes a step back, like I’d slapped her. I nod to the door. “Go inside to your fiancé. I want to be alone.”

I turn away from her, unable to look at the hurt in her eyes. I know she isn’t hurting for what I’d said . . . she’s hurtingforme — like I’m a kid, lashing out because something bad happened to him.

Guilt washes through me as I listen to the sound of her heels click back to the door.

“I’m really sorry, Charlie. If you need anything, just call. I’m always here to talk.”

The final click of the door closing causes me to let out a string of curses under my breath.

If I was a less selfish man, I would have walked away from Bailey the moment I saw her. And I tried, for a couple years. All it did, though, was make me realize what a greedy fucking bastard I am.

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