change between us. You know that, right?” I say softly to his back as he continues to look outside. I see his shoulders tense, though, the only outward sign that he’s listening.
“I’ve spent too much of my life doing things I don’t want and being unhappy. You make me feel like I can do anything, be anyone. You wormed your way into my life and pissed me off a whole bunch, but now I can’t imagine spending a day without you. I know I started out as a job for you, but it’s more than that now. I know it is.”
His shoulders heave with a deep sigh, and he finally turns around to face me, the confidence and smile wilting on my face when I see his eyes. They’re cold and hard and they don’t meet mine directly.
“Look, sweetheart, we’re from two different worlds. You and I both know that. This thing between us, whatever it was, it was just a thing—a way to pass the time,” he tells me quietly so no one else can hear. “You’re safe now, the bad guy is behind bars, and my work here is finished.”
I press my hand to my stomach in an effort to keep myself together. Right now, it feels like my whole body is being ripped wide open and my heart and soul are spilling onto the floor at his feet.
“You don’t mean that. I know you, Brady. Why are you doing this?” I whisper angrily, my shaking voice giving away the torrent of emotions running through me.
“Sweetheart, you don’t know a damn thing about me. Just like that fiancé of yours, we were both paid by your mother to do a job. My job is done, so I’ll be collecting my paycheck and hittin’ the road. You better get going, your chariot awaits,” he says with a nod in Finn’s direction before turning away from me again, this time pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and punching some buttons like he’s sending a text.
Sending a damn text when he just broke my heart.
“You’re a coward, you know that? A fucking coward,” I tell him angrily and loudly, no longer caring that Gwen and Finn can hear me. Swiping angrily at the tears falling freely down my face, I turn and walk over to Gwen, pausing for a moment in front of her.
“Gwen, thank you so much for everything,” I tell the woman with a sad smile. She’s the first woman I really thought I could be friends with in long time. She's real and honest, and I had hoped to be able to have her in my life. That won’t be possible now. Not when her brother obviously wants nothing more to do with me now that the “job” is finished. He’s just going to stand there and let me walk out the door and out of his life, and there’s nothing else I can do about it.
Gwen rushes over and wraps her arms around me, squeezing me tight, and I have to struggle to swallow past the lump in my throat and not let myself sob into her shoulder.
“He’s being an ass. He loves you. I know he does. Just give him time,” she whispers in my ear before pulling away and mirroring my sad smile.
I don’t say anything in response to her words, knowing they are just her way of trying to make me feel better. Finn grabs onto my hand again, and we’re out the door without a backward glance.
We get into his SUV and pull out of Brady’s driveway and head towards town, neither one of us saying a word for several miles.
“I’m sorry, Layla. I really didn’t want to be right about him,” Finn says after a few minutes.
I turn my head and look out the window, watching the trees fly by in a blur, not sure if it’s because Finn is driving so fast or because of the tears pooling in my eyes.
“You know, you’re better off without him anyway,” Finn continues, not caring that I don’t want to be part of this discussion. “I have a feeling your mother has finally seen the light and won’t be so hard on you anymore. She mentioned something to me last night about giving you more freedom with your music.”
What should have given me a huge burst of elation suddenly just makes me feel despondent. This is what I’ve always wished for: freedom to sing what I want and be who I want.