Love Triangle Six Books of Torn Desire - Willow Winters Page 0,235

was his brother? Or was it the other way around—he was upset that I was there with his brother because that meant I was with someone who wasn’t Mark?

I want it to be the second one more than I want air to breathe, but all that would do is complicate things.

I think of the way he looked at me when he walked into Brian’s bedroom. His eyes were on me, full of the things I wanted to see there—I think. It could’ve been the vodka or my overactive imagination. It may have been wishful thinking. Either way, he came to find me, and he left as soon as his brother walked in the room. That has to mean something.

I need to see him. Fuck the guilt. I sneak out of Brian’s bathroom as quietly as possible. I creep through the quiet hallway, praying Mark will somehow be sitting at the kitchen table, as if fate stepped in to give us the time together we deserve.

But fate can be a real cruel bitch sometimes.

Mark’s not in the kitchen. The room is empty, just like it was the last time I crept quietly through this same condo the morning after spending it in a man’s arms.

I glance around me, really take in the view. The place is a mess, bottles and empty cups strewn across the counter, crumbs and plates and napkins scattered across table tops and the floor. It looks like there was a great party here last night, and I wish I knew how the night ended for Mark.

My eyes automatically go to the hallway where I know his bedroom is located. It’s the only room down that hallway, the master suite. The thought attacks me again: is some other woman in there with him? I want to know. I’m desperate to know.

A singular sound pierces the quiet when a key slides into the lock of the front door. My head swings that way, and then an older woman walks through it. Her gray eyes fall on me, but she shows no emotion. “Hello, miss. Are you a guest of Mr. Ashton?”

Not last night, I wasn’t. “I’m Brian’s girlfriend.”

She smiles and touches a hand to her gray hair. “Oh, Brian is such a nice boy. I’m happy he found someone.”

Who are you? My mind is begging me to ask, but my lips won’t form the question. She heads straight to the counter and starts gathering the garbage. She gathers the empty bottles in one area and the bottles with liquor still in them in another.

“Do you need some help with that?” I finally ask.

“Oh, no, sweetheart. Thank you. I get paid well to come in and do this.” She smiles at me. “I’m Hazel, by the way. Mr. Ashton’s housekeeper. And, I suppose your boyfriend’s, too, until he finds a place of his own.”

“Nice to meet you, Hazel.”

I wonder what sorts of things Hazel has seen. She seems completely unaffected by the fact that there are cigarettes and joints mingling together in ashtrays as she dumps them into a garbage can.

I stand awkwardly, not sure what to do. No one else is out here. It’s just me and Hazel, and she doesn’t want my help.

“Can I get you anything?” she asks me.

I could use a strong cup of coffee, but I don’t say that. “No, thank you.”

“Don’t mind me. I’ll have this place back in tip top shape in a few hours.”

“How long have you been working for Mark?” I ask.

She glances upward in thought. “I guess he’s been here about three years now.”

“Is this his main residence?”

She shakes her head, mindlessly emptying some beer cans into the sink before tossing them in the recycle bin under the sink. “No. He lives in Los Angeles, but he stays here pretty regularly. More so over the past couple months.”

“Where else does he have houses?”

She glances over at me. “Why don’t you ask him, sweetie?” She says it so nicely and so genuinely that I almost miss the fact that she’s sort of scolding me.

I don’t want her to think I’m with Brian because of his brother. “Brian didn’t tell me he was related to Mark,” I blurt. “I just found out last night. We’ve been together about a month.”

“Ah,” she says knowingly. “So you’re a little fascinated and a little shell shocked?”

I nod. “Yeah.”

“He’s a good man. Mr. Ashton, I mean. Brian is, too. You’re a lucky girl. The two of them have such a tumultuous relationship sometimes, so I see