Page 34 of The Workaholic Down the Hall

“What the hell, Noah? Aubrey has been there for you through everything—”

“She was my assistant, it was her job.”

The disbelief on Cody's face changed to anger. “It was more than that and you know it, asshole. I for one really like Aubrey and I'm not going to lose her just because you're being a blind dickhead.”

“What the hell does that even mean?”

“It means if you fuck this up, which it looks like you're going to do in spectacular fashion, I'm choosing her.”

“You're choosing her? I'm your brother.” I should have walked away. I should have, but I couldn't move. I was rooted in place.

Cody put down his wine glass and propped his hands on his hips. “Man, I've seen you and Aubrey together. I've seen the way you look at her. You want her, which you made clear by knocking her up by the way, but you care about her as a person, too. I might even say you love her, if I believed you had a heart in that tin chest of yours. She makes you smile more than you ever smile around anyone else and she's having your baby. If you don't do everything you can to keep her by your side, by which I mean marry her and take her back to Atlanta with you, then you're an even bigger fucking idiot than I thought.”

“You have no idea what you're talking about,” Noah said. “Sure, Aubrey and I have chemistry, but that's all it is. If I was going to have feelings for her, don't you think I'd've developed them by now?”

Cody's gaze moved over Noah's shoulder and he spotted me. He winced. “I think you already have feelings for her, you're just too much of a chicken shit to admit it to yourself.”

Noah turned to see me staring at the two of them. I forced an easy smile. “Hey, you two,” I said, my voice cracking. “Got any glasses I can take to the kitchen?”

Why? Why did it hurt so much? Noah hadn't said anything to Cody he hadn't said to me. Maybe he hadn't said it in such cold, hard language, but I'd already known he wasn't in anything more than lust with me. I knew he didn't care about me the way I cared about him. And the sad truth was that in our last week together, I'd fallen even more for him, had fallen so hard I doubted another man would ever be enough for me. I'd fallen harder, and he couldn't wait to get away from me.

“Aubrey,” Noah said, pity in his eyes. “I didn't mean—”

“Of course you did,” I said. I looked to Cody. “Noah's right. He and I would never work and forcing us to live together is only making that more obvious.” I was lying, of course, but it felt a hell of a lot better than the pity in Noah's eyes.

Noah frowned. “What? What have I done?”

I forced my smile to get bigger and started ticking off his flaws on my fingers. “You can't cook at all. I mean, honestly, were you even trying with that baked ziti? All you had to do was read the recipe.”

“Wait, just a minute,” Noah said. Cody leaned back, arms crossed over his chest, and grinned.

“You haven't done any laundry and how many days have you been wearing those jeans?”

“I just pulled them out—”

“You whine about being bored like a three-year-old. You go to bed too late and wake up too early. You have no sense of direction. You chew too loud.”

“Ichewtoo loud?”

“You—”

A gentle hand landed on my shoulder. “That's enough, dear. Bart is ready to take you home, if you'd like.” I turned to see Nora, a frown lining her features, her eyes sad. I didn't know why Bart and not George or Nora was taking me home, but it didn't matter. I didn't care how I got there, I just wanted to get there fast.

“That would be great, Nora. Thank you.”

George and Noah loaded our gifts into the bed of Bart's truck. When it was time to go, I hugged Nora and Carrie and thanked them for the party. I pretended I was fine. I pretended I was happy.

I got into the passenger's seat of Bart's truck. When Noah motioned for me to scoot over and let him in, I couldn't do it. I couldn't sit next to him and smell him, feel him against my side, be so close to him and not totally lose it.

“I think you should ride to the house with your mom.” I doubted Nora would let him go back to Atlanta or stay anywhere other than the hunting cabin, but I didn't see why I had to ride with him.

“Aubrey,” he said. He looked tired, sad, but I couldn't find it in me to care.

“Maybe Cody would let you stay here a few days. Maybe he'd take you back to Atlanta.”

He nodded and stepped back, closing the door gently. Bart looked over at me, concern clear in his expression. “You okay, girl?”

I nodded, then shook my head. “No, but I will be.”

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