Finding Mr. Write (Business of Love #5) - Ali Parker Page 0,63
sweater to wipe the tears from her cheeks as I peeled away with anger and betrayal eating away at my heart.
What had started as a great day full of things to celebrate had taken a sudden unexpected turn.
Why hadn’t she told me about this when she first slipped up with her co-worker? Why had she kept it a secret?
And what else did this journalist have on me because of Briar’s carelessness?
Chapter 27
Briar
You just had to open your big fat mouth, didn’t you?
My thoughts were not kind to me as I made the walk to mine and Sonia’s apartment in tears. Strangers shot me concerned looks as I passed them on the sidewalk. Well, the strangers who didn’t have their headphones in and their eyes glued to their phone screens did anyway. I did my best to ignore them. Making eye contact with someone who pitied me certainly wouldn’t make me feel better.
I was quite certain nothing would make me feel better right now.
I’d betrayed the man I was falling for.
Like a dumbass.
What had my oversight cost him? How far was this Kelly Green woman going to run with her story? Would she be able to do anything with the little information she had? She knew that I knew Parker, but she didn’t know who he was, what he looked like, or how involved we were.
A small part of me was optimistic that I’d avoided hot water with her. Another part felt like I was drowning and she was the one rocking the boat.
Bitch, I thought sourly.
No matter how much I wanted to blame Kelly Green for the hurt Wes had just inflicted on me, I couldn’t. The blame rested solely with me. I’d betrayed him. I’d done the one thing that to Wes was probably unforgivable.
I’d ruined the best thing that ever happened to me in a matter of seconds.
I ran a shaking finger under my eyes and swept away mascara and tears that stained the creases in my fingers. I sniffled and snorted and kept my head down as I hurried across the street to my apartment building. My fingers were so cold they were almost numb as I struggled to put them around the front door handle.
The lobby of the building greeted me with warmth and the smell of disinfectant and newspapers that spilled over the side of a recycling bin beside the mailboxes. I thanked my lucky stars that nobody was in the lobby or the elevator as I rode up to my floor.
I moved hurriedly down the narrow hallway, stopped at my front door, and stuck the key in the lock. The door swung open and Sonia, who stood at the kitchen sink with a rag in one hand and a bowl in the other, looked up at me with a grin.
“Oh hey,” she chimed, “I didn’t think you were coming home until later tonight. Did your shift get cut early?”
I closed and locked the door behind me and slumped against it, resting my forehead upon Sonia’s jacket that hung off the back of it.
“Briar?” Sonia turned the sink off. “Are you okay?”
I mumbled “no” into the jacket and shook my head.
Sonia’s bare feet padded across the kitchen floor and she stopped beside me. “You didn’t get fired, did you?”
I sighed heavily into the jacket and straightened. “No, I didn’t get fired.”
“What happened?”
“I made a stupid mistake and hurt someone I really care about.”
“Oooh. Are you talking about Shakespeare?”
I nodded.
In order to protect Wes’s privacy from my roommate, I’d taken to calling him Shakespeare in front of her. She’d found it equally as charming as I did.
“I’m sorry,” Sonia offered. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t think I have anything to say other than I’m so fucking mad at myself for being so stupid.”
“Did you guys break up?”
I shrugged. How would I know the answer to that? We were never officially together. There were never any discussions about being exclusive. We just loved each other’s company.
And bodies.
“I don’t know what happened.” I sighed. “He told me to get out of his car because he needed space and then he drove off and I walked back here.”
“How far did you have to walk?”
“Not even ten minutes. He didn’t leave me in an unsafe part of the city. Don’t worry. He just… he had every right to kick me out of the car.”
“What could you have done that was so bad?”
I wished I could tell her. I truly did. But that was the rub. I couldn’t.