Page 53 of My Totally Unfair Deal

“I have to take this.”

He glances back, dead calm.

“We’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

TWENTY-SIX

ELIZA

“Tomorrow”

The rain is assaulting the balcony too hard for me to sleep, and all I want to do is storm into Harrison’s room and tell him that we should just fuck once and for all. That I’ll never tell my brother, and it might help ease the tension during my remaining weeks anyway.

Rolling off the bed, I put on my robe and head to the kitchen.

I pull out all the ingredients for a brownie and turn on the oven.

As I’m cracking an egg, Harrison walks into the living room.

“You want a few brownies?” I ask. “You’ll save me from eating the entire pan by myself.”

“I told you I’d call you back.” His voice is terse. “Did I not tell you that?”

Huh?

“Just give me ten fucking minutes.” He hisses. “I’m going to call you back. I always call you back.”

I set down the bowl, confused.

“Okay, five minutes then,” he says. “Just five minutes.”

“Harrison?” I move closer, noticing that there isn’t a phone in his hand; he’s talking to himself.

“Harrison?” I wave a hand in front of his face, but he looks right through me.

His eyes are glossed over like he’s still in a deep sleep, and before I can shake his shoulders, he turns away and heads down the hall.

“Just hold on,” he calls out to someone. “I’ll be right there.”

Grabbing my cell phone, I cautiously follow him from a distance. He opens a door I’ve never noticed before and walks up a narrow stairwell.

“You promised you would wait…” His voice is louder now. “You promised you would fucking wait.”

When he opens the door at the top, the wind slams it shut. Undeterred, Harrison pushes it open again, stepping onto a landing.

The garden he’d once mentioned is here, the rows of tightly placed flowers and shrubs reaching out to the sky while Harrison reaches out to something—or someone—I can’t see.

“I never said that. You said that.” He starts pacing back and forth near the edge of the building.

He moves close to the ledge, a little too close, and fear washes over me. I rush toward him and grab his elbow, pulling him back as hard as I can.

“Stop.” He snatches his arm away from me before spinning around.

“Why couldn’t you just fucking wait?” he growls. “All you had to do was wait!”

Wait? “Harrison, it’s me…Eliza.” I look into his eyes, but they’re still glazed over… He can’t see me at all.

“You were supposed to be here with me,” he says. “This was your idea to get away from the family. Your fucking idea, not mine.”

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