Page 87 of Another Christmas from Hell

“It’s complicated,” Bryce said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“She loves you,” his father said, resting his elbows on his knees as he considered him.

“No, she doesn’t,” Bryce said, shaking his head because the last thing that he wanted to think about was Cayley being in love with him.

“And you’re scared that she’ll never love you as much as you love her,” his father said with a pitying look that turned his stomach.

“Can you blame me?” Bryce asked, leaning back against his bureau as he slowly exhaled.

“Yes,” his father said, taking him by surprise as he stood up and moved to head to the door, only to pause as he added, “She’s nothing like your mother, Bryce.”

“I can’t take that chance,” Bryce said, watching as his father absently nodded while he made his way to the door.

“I know,” his father said as he left and-

“Oh, fuck, no…” Bryce said seconds later when three of his brothers walked into the room, every last one of them looking really fucking determined.

CHAPTER48

“I’m trying to help you!”

“You’re trying to piss me off!” Cayley yelled as she let the snowball in her hand fly.

“Same thing!” Sean snapped, ducking out of the way and-

“Oh, come on!” Cayley said as she suddenly found herself thrown over a shoulder that definitely belonged to a James boy.

“This is for your own good,” Sean said, hissing in pain as he joined them.

“It really is,” Craig, the traitor, seconded as she was carried back inside her apartment building and straight into her apartment where Mr. James stood waiting along with Johnny and Brian.

“Everything all set?” Craig asked as he headed for her room.

“They’re not getting out of there,” Johnny said as Craig carried her into her bedroom and dropped her on the bed with a grunt.

As soon as she was done bouncing, Cayley moved to climb off the bed and make the James boys regret manhandling her when she saw Bryce tied to a chair in the middle of her room, looking incredibly pissed.

Good.

That made two of them, Cayley thought as she shifted her glare to his brother as she moved to climb off the bed and get out of there before it was too late. That was followed by her falling back on the bed with a groan when she spotted Sean standing in the doorway, shooting her a wink as he closed the door behind him, leaving her trapped with the man that wanted nothing to do with her.

Great.

“I really need a new best friend,” Cayley muttered as she stared up at her ceiling, not bothering to check the door, knowing that it would be pointless.

For several minutes, she lay there, regretting her decision not to take up her father’s invitation to spend Christmas with him and-

“Cayley, I-” Bryce started to say, but she didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to talk to him, and right now, she wanted to pretend that it wasn’t killing her to be this close to him and not be able to touch him.

“I’m not talking to you,” Cayley said, determined to spend whatever time that she was stuck in here glaring up at the ceiling, mentally going over all the things that she was going to have to do, find a new job, a new place, and-

Decided that she’d rather think about this in the bathroom. Struggling not to cry because she refused to cry over the big jerk watching her every move again, Cayley climbed off the bed and rushed to the bathroom, where she slammed the bathroom door shut and fell back against the door as the first sob broke free. She covered her face with her hands as she slid down to the floor as the tears flowed freely down her face.

She loved him and he wanted nothing to do with her.

She just…

She just wished that it didn’t hurt this much.

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