Page 14 of Harboring Secrets
Okay, I was an idiot, but fool me once and all that.
“Give me ten minutes. Brodie, please.”
My hand flailed in empty air until it found the doorknob. Without another word, I closed the door. I stared down at my hand and had to make myself let go before I did something ridiculous like open the door again. I stormed into the kitchen as the coffee maker sputtered and finished brewing my coffee.
The house was eerily quiet now. The clock on the wall counted the passing seconds with an aggressive tick … tick … tick. I made myself get my coffee. Adding two sugars, no milk, I sat at the table and stared into nothing. I thought of all the things I had to do soon. A place to live. A job. A dog. I still wanted the dog. I refused to unpack the reasons why.
I tried not to think of Liam, but I never made it more than half a minute before he was invading my brain.
When my coffee was finished, I was sure that Liam would be long gone. Tiptoeing to the living room, I pulled the curtain back and peeked outside. A shiny black sedan sat on the curb and a familiar shape inhabited a spot on the front step.
“Fucking Christ.”
I stomped over to the door and yanked it open. Liam jumped up like his ass was on fire and thrust the flowers at me again, leaving me with little choice but to take them.
“Ten minutes. Please, Brodie. Hear me out,” Liam begged.
“Are you seriously still here?”
“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”
Again, I closed the door. I took the flowers to the kitchen in time for Kieran to wake up and stumble out of his room. His rubbed at his eyes as he stared at me, massive bouquet of tulips in my arms.
“Tulips?”
“Apology flowers.”
Kieran acknowledged my explanation with a grunt and opened a couple cupboards and slid things around until he produced a vase that looked big enough to handle the bouquet.
He thunked it down on the counter and grabbed a cup of coffee. After adding enough milk and sugar to turn himself into a fucking marshmallow, he eyed the flowers as I carefully unwrapped them from their floral paper.
“Do I need to kill him?”
“Who are we killing?” Clay emerged dressed in Kieran’s clothes. Kieran pulled him into his lap and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Jealousy burned through me hot and bright like an explosion.
“It’s a long story.” I scoffed at the tulips. They were pretty and I wanted to hate them for it, but I didn’t have it in me.
Kieran kicked a chair out from under the table. “Sit.”
Rolling my eyes, I dropped into the seat with my arms folded over my chest like a petulant child waiting to be scolded.
“Spill.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Kieran arched an eyebrow at me. “Is this the reason you came home out of the blue?”
“Ugh… fine. The abridged version is I fell for someone I clearly shouldn’t have and it ended badly, and he tracked me down because he wants to explain or whatever. He says he’s not leaving until I talk to him. He was still loitering on your front step last I saw him. It’s like you didn’t even read the postcards I sent here.”
“I read the ones with my name on them.”
I rolled my eyes. “Figures that you’d be all respectful and shit and not invade my privacy.”
Clay got up and rushed to the front window. He was back a minute later, trying not to grin at me. “He’s still here.”
“Something funny?” I asked him. I liked Clay; he was good for Kieran. If anyone deserved to be happy, it was him.
