Brayden’s Mate—Chapter 29

“You have to go.” Brayden clutched the letter in his hand.

“No.” Taylor snatched at the letter, but he held it out of her reach.

“It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

“It’s not what I want anymore.” Her cheeks heated.

“What changed?”

She ran a hand through her hair, letting it fall down her back. “You,” she breathed.

“I can’t let you not take it.”

“I don’t want to go. It’s not what I thought it was going to be.”

He held up the letter, reading off bullet points. “It sounds like a good offer to me.”

“No.” She insisted. “It’s not good.”

He handed her the letter. “Tell me what’s wrong with it.”

She grabbed it from him. This was not going well. She didn’t want him to want her to go. She hadn’t even planned on telling him about it. “It’s in Atlanta.” She said.

He narrowed his eyes. “You knew that when you applied.”

“I changed my mind.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t change your mind.”

“I did.” Why was he doing this? She felt nauseated. She turned away and stomped back to her office. He shouldn’t be snooping around in her stuff anyway.

“Hey.” He followed her. “Don’t just walk away. I’m trying to help you.”

She stood with her back to him. He wanted her to go. It was a convenient way for him to get rid of her. He could have just said so.

“Go.” She said.

“What? Why?”

She turned and didn’t care that her eyes were filled with tears. She pointed toward the front door. “Just go.”

“Taylor.”

“Just go. Just leave me alone.”

Though she saw the pain in his eyes, she didn’t trust it. He’d been leaving today anyway, so he was already packed.

She watched him walk by the couch and pick up his overnight bag. He slung it over his shoulder and kept walking. He paused at the door, and she thought for a moment he was going to turn around and come back.

Instead, he opened the door and closed it behind him.

What?

What just happened?

With her letter still clutched in her hand, she followed him to the door, turned the lock, and watched through the window as he drove away.

She wandered back to the couch and dropped onto it. Lucy jumped up next to her. As she hugged her cat to her, disbelief morphed into despair and the first tear fell onto Lucy’s fur.

He was just looking for an excuse. Even as she told herself that, her heart shattered into a thousand pieces.