Best Friend's Brother #4 (Best Friend's Brother Romance Series - Book #4) by Alycia Taylor Read Free Book Online

dark because it was night and the
shades were closed…not because I was dead and in a box in the ground. And then
I would remember that Emma was. Some nights, like tonight, I’d have to get out
of bed and empty my stomach into the toilet after that realization. When I
finished doing that, I just let myself slide down onto the cold linoleum floor
and I sat there and wondered when this would ever get better. When was I ever
going to be free of this cloying grief that came out of nowhere and attached
itself around my neck like a weight, dragging me down…pulling me into the deep
end of the ocean…?
    I sat there until my heart calmed down and the
nausea passed and then I went into the kitchen for a bottle of water. The clock
on the stove said five a.m. I probably wasn’t going to get any more sleep this
morning because the first thought I had when I looked at that clock was, “Seven
hours until I see Alexa.” Now that I was awake and I’d left the nightmare in
the dark…I would spend the daylight hours obsessing over a woman I’d promised
to leave alone. In my defense…I was trying. She was the one that wouldn’t let
it go. She wasn’t going to let me just walk away. I was upset about that to a
point, but in a way, I was glad she cared that much.
    I nursed the water for a long time, not wanting to
throw my stomach back into an upheaval and then I changed my clothes and went
for a run. I was hoping the cool air would clear my head, but with each pound of
my foot against the pavement I thought of a new reason why meeting Alexa face
to face was a bad idea.
    When I got home, I showered and went to the gym
again. I was beating myself up, exercising way too much and eating way too
little. But, it was the only thing that kept the thoughts in my head from
driving me crazy…even a little bit. I had no idea how to look Alexa in the eye
and lie to tell her that I didn’t want to see her any longer, because the truth
was, I wanted her more than ever. While I ran, I thought about it and while I
worked out, I thought about it again. I didn’t come to any conclusions. I
wondered if I should just be honest with her and tell her that her father
pointed out that I was hurting her. Maybe he had it all wrong and she’d tell me
that and we’d move on from there…somehow I doubted it would be that easy.

 
    CHAPTER
NINE
    IAN
    Just before noon I walked to the pizza parlor,
dragging my feet. I was late and she probably thought that I wasn’t coming. I
could picture her sitting there, thinking what a gutless son of a bitch I was
that I couldn’t even break up with her in person…and she would be right. The
thing she had wrong though was that I wanted to break up with her. That’s why
this was so fucking hard. I never wanted anything less in my life.
    I pushed open the door to the crowded little pizza
parlor in the brick building, buried and almost invisible in the heart of the
city. It was one of those places that attracted locals and got a lot of
delivery and take-out business, but someone from out of town would probably
never see it and walk inside because of the outside décor. They were missing
out though. There was nothing better than their pizza. The crust was crunchy on
the outside but it didn’t taste like cardboard. The toppings always tasted
fresh where sometimes at other places, the cheese could taste a little bit
overcooked or congealed. It was casual and laidback, but the food was good
enough that you could get away with taking a girl there on the first date. I
knew, because I’d done that more than once.
    I saw Alexa sitting near the back. She was sipping
on a Coke and she hadn’t seen me yet. She had on a pair of jean cut-offs and a
pink T-shirt with white roses or something on it. Her shiny red hair was down
around her shoulders and she barely had any makeup on. She was the prettiest
thing I’d ever seen and I suddenly felt like I wanted to throw up again. I was
so close to turning around and walking out…but