Page 51 of My Brother's Roommate (Frisky Business 2)
Way to fucking go, Cox.
“Friday was a mistake.” The words are directed more at the floor than Penelope. “We can’t keep making mistakes on purpose.”
When I pull my gaze up to meet hers, I instantly regret it. Her lip is quivering, her eyes barely blinking back the tears.
“I don’t understand.”
“What’s not to get?” I rasp. “I can’t fall in love with my best friend’s sister.”
With that, her tears break through, chasing one another down to her chin. “Y-you were . . . falling in love with me?”
My heart wrenches in my chest. Fuck, Cox. You’re just making it harder on the girl. And on yourself.
“It doesn’t matter,” I lie. “It can’t happen.”
Penelope doesn’t say anything else, but she doesn’t have to. The damage is done. I hurt her, just like I always knew I would. I ruin everything I touch, and while I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, I can’t even say I’m surprised.
My throat feels tight and my heart is pounding unevenly. “I have to go.”
Without another word, I turn around and take the stairs two at a time, racing down to the street and back into the cold.
I thought I knew pain, but this is different. Worse. The kind of hurt you can’t just bury and leave to rot deep inside you. This is the kind of pain that’s going to stare me dead in the eye for weeks, if not months, to come.
I can’t help but think that maybe the guilt of lying to Connor wouldn’t have been as bad as this, or the misery of admitting the truth to him, even if he pulverized me to a fine dust once he knew.
But hell, I guess I’ll never know.20* * *PENELOPEPardon my French, but this morning fucking sucks.
I didn’t even make it to my desk before making a pit stop for an ugly cry in the office bathroom. Shoving open the door, I barely manage to lock myself into the farthest stall before the waterworks start pouring out of me in quick, breathless sobs.
All it took was running into a coworker who asked about my boyfriend to bring on a dozen painful memories of the work retreat, back when treating Wolfie as my boyfriend was nothing more than a game of pretend. Back when all I wanted from him was a purely physical, no-strings-attached, just-for-the-night arrangement. All because I thought it would be fun.
And it was fun, but it was also so much more than that. He let me into his world, and I developed real feelings.
If only I could have stuck to my own boundaries. Maybe I wouldn’t be stifling my sobs into toilet paper right now, brokenhearted and cursing whoever thought single-ply tissue was okay. I might as well be blowing my nose with sandpaper.
Happy Monday to me.
God, when was the last time I cried over a man like this? College, maybe? It’s certainly been a long time since I’ve been this emotionally invested in someone. Not that it was ever my intention to get so wrapped up in Wolfie.
To be totally honest, it wasn’t even until Friday night that I realized I wanted something serious with him. Something real and lasting. I wanted to be the only one he shared his secrets with, the only girl to cook him pasta and kiss him good night.
And then less than forty-eight hours later, he pulled the rug out from underneath me, and all those dreams came crashing down. Now I feel as broken as I used to think he was, a thought that just makes me cry even harder.
Can you work with me here, tear ducts? I do have a job to get to, you know.
Once I’m all cried out, I spend ten full minutes practicing my fake smile in the mirror and fanning my eyes to try to chase the redness away.
All right. Pep talk time.
If Wolfie could pretend to be my boyfriend for a whole weekend work retreat, I can play the role of girl who definitely didn’t get dumped this weekend for the next eight hours. I am a strong, independent woman who won’t let a boy breaking her heart affect her workday, especially when that promotion could be announced any day now.
I push my shoulders back, release a fluttery breath, and let my fake confidence carry me down the hall and straight into my cubicle.
And then I see it.
Spencer’s desk. It’s empty.
No freaking way.
I squeeze my eyes shut and open them one at a time, first the left, then the right. Am I imagining things? Or could it really be true? Has my nightmare coworker finally wised up and realized he’s garbage at his job and quit on principle? Or maybe David came to his senses and served his nephew his walking papers.
“Hey, Penny, check out the new digs!”
Or maybe pigs started flying and hell froze over.
