Page 66 of Unconditional

The plan had been made hastily and was poorly thought through—I’d show up at her apartment and beg her to forgive me.That was it.That was the plan.It seemed simple enough until I was standing in the dreary cold of Chicago, waiting for someone to open the door to her apartment building because I was too much of a pussy to ring her buzzer.

Finally, a custodian emerged from around a hall corner, his mop bucket rolling along with him.Banging on the door, I prayed he noticed me over whatever he had playing on his headphones.When he finally did, he cocked an eyebrow, uncovering one ear and poking his head out the door without fully opening it.

“You lost or somethin?”

My first instinct was to say something insulting, letting my aggravation and anxiety reveal itself.Instead, I forced back my retort and gave a self-deprecating chuckle instead.

“Not exactly.This is my girl’s place, she lives upstairs.We just got back from a trip.I came down to get the rest of our bags but forgot the keys and I think she might already be asleep.”

The man eyed me and then the bags.“Who’s your lady?”

“Misely Fisher, in 4D.”

His eyebrows shot up in recognition before he schooled his features again.“Didn’t realize that one had settled down.She gets so many…visitors.”

I had to reign in the rage, gritting my teeth.Despite my burning jealousy, it only served to piss me off that this fucking nobody had the audacity to judge her.Technically she was a single woman, she could have as manyvisitorsas she wanted.Before me anyway.Not anymore.“And that’s all they are.Visitors.Look, can you let me in or not?I don’t want to wake her up, but I will.And then I’ll get her landlord’s number and let your boss know you’re making inappropriate comments about the tenants.”

All a bluff.I’d rather beat him into the pavement than report him to management.

He must have recognized that because his cheeks lost some color and he stepped back, pushing the glass door open further to let me through with the six billion rolling bags.Now that I was in though, there was any point in maintaining my total restraint.Grabbing the asshole by the front of his shirt, I slammed his back against the wall behind him.

“If I ever hear you so much as whisper another word about Misely, I’ll make you swallow your teeth.Got it?”

His nod was frantic and panicked, but I didn’t let myself enjoy it.Forcefully I released him, grabbing the bags and jabbing my finger into the elevator’s Up button.It took several moments to get all of the bags into the cab of the elevator with the dickhead janitor holding an arm across the door sensor to keep it from sliding shut, but eventually I made it up to her floor.

Just like when she’d shut me out at Milo’s, my fist hovered over the door, nerves keeping me from following through with the knock.Taking a breath, I let myself remember the soft smile Misely wore the last morning we woke up together before reaching Oregon, let myself envision waking up to that every morning.Steeling my spine, I lifting my fist again, ready to find out one way or another if that would be somethingshe’dwant, when I was stopped mid-knock by the sound of Misely’s raised voice on the other side.

forty-eight

Misely

BrantleyCorriganhadbeena good lover for a while, but it seemed even after two weeks and another man telling him to fuck off, he still couldn’t take a hint.He’d been here for hours and my patience was waning.There had been stages to his visit.

It had started with him apologizing for coming on too strong before, promising to tone it down.That he would be fine continuing a strictly physical relationship.Then it had evolved to him trying to kiss me and being upset when I turned him down.And now, hours later, he was back to going on about how good we would be together.

Several times my mind had wandered to Patti, and how she had said, “‘No’ is a complete sentence.” She was right.It had been foolish of me to keep letting him off the hook and excusing his behavior as ‘determined.’No, he simply could not accept that I wasn’t interested.Men like Brantley don’t comprehend when they are being told no.

“You say the word, and I’ll stop.”It was Talon’s voice that drifted into my thoughts again, so clearly it was like he was in the room with us.IfTalon, the man who’d taken me by way of blackmail and violence, chased me through the woods and pinned me to the ground, could hear me and respect me at my word—there weren’t any excuses in the world that would warrant anymore lenience toward the man who stood in front of me.

“If you’d just give us a chance—” That was enough.

“Brantley,stop.”

“But—”

“No, I said stop.I amnot interested.I do not have feelings for you, and I am no longer interested in continuing a sexual relationship.I have no desire to date you or 'give us a chance.'In fact, I think it would be in both of our best interest if we stopped speaking all together.This has gotten to the point that I don’t believe we can even be friends.”

The silence was deafening.Andblissful.I was exhausted.It had been a hell of a week, and a hell of a week before that too.And now I needed another week just to recuperate from everything that had gone down and that started with this buffoon getting the hell out of my apartment.

The silence was entirely too short lived.

“Is this because of the douche bag that answered your phone last week?”

My head fell back and I laughed.“No.And even if it was, so what?I told you I’m not interested, end of conversation.”

“Not end of conversation.After everything, I think I deserve an explanation.”

I exploded.I truly exploded, anddamnit felt good.“You deservenothing.I owe younothing.You mean nothing to me, Brantley.You were a fuck buddy, something that had been communicated to you effectively several times.I will not continue to tip toe around your delicate male ego simply because you refuse to get it through your thick skull thatI don’t want you.”

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