Chapter 20 Girl’s Talk
“Now, will you tell me what the hell is going on between you and Barth?” Summer asked with a raised brow as we both fell face down on my bed.
The smile on my face instantly vanished as the atmosphere shifted uncomfortably. I rolled over and sat up, clearing my throat.
“Or we should instead talk about Miller?” I narrowed my eyes at her, chuckling as her cheeks went bright red. “How you were sneaking him upstairs like a thief in the night?”
“Don’t you dare change the topic!” She snapped, throwing a pillow at me. “And of course we can talk about Miller, right after we talk about you wandering back to your room wrapped in a white tuxedo that definitely wasn’t yours.”
“And the way you two were looking at each other during breakfast? Bree, the tension was so thick that I thought he was going to bend you right over on the table and fuck you in our faces.”
“Summer!” My eyes widened as my hand went over to cover her mouth. “Stop spewing rubbish!”
She slapped my hand away. “Oh well, I wasn’t wrong though.”
A brief silence came upon us and she stared deep into my eyes with a gaze so intense that I thought she was trying to read my mind.
“Are you in love with him?”
I pursed my lips not giving an answer because I didn’t know what to say. Was I in love with him? I do feel butterflies and all people usually say a girl was supposed to feel when she had fallen in love when I come across Barth.
Sometimes when I see him with Tan, I feel jealous trying to suppress the urge to drag her by the hair away from him. And other times when he was in pain, I felt it too.
Weird.
Have I really fallen for my step brother?
“Oh gosh!” Summer smacked her right palm on her forehead as she shook it. “Bree, what the hell?”
I shrugged, feigning ignorance. “What? I haven’t even said anything.”
“You don’t have to say anything. It’s written all over your face!” She responded. “As much as I love romance, especially romance such as this, I don’t want it to happen to my best friend. Does your mum know?”
“Of course not!” I almost yelled.
“Good,” she breathed a sigh of relief. “And we are going to keep it that way. No one can know about it. Why couldn’t you fall in love with someone else? I know Barth is hot, good looking and has a great physique. Oh, great abs I must add.”
“Not helping,” I narrowed my eyes on her.
“Yes, yes, sorry. But still, there are other boys. What of Ryan? Couldn’t you have fallen for him? He has pretty eyes.”
At the mention of Ryan, anger coursed through my veins. He had taken me into that place just to mess with me and he took advantage of my friendship. That is one thing I can never forgive.
“Summer, you know what Ryan did,” I replied curtly.
“True. But we don’t know his true intentions. Maybe Barth doesn’t really know him the way he claims he does, just give him a chance to explain himself to you at least.”
I raised a brow at her. My best friend was always on my side. “Are you trying to get me off Barth’s radar or did Ryan put you up to this?”
She shook her head, her face turning serious. “No Bree. I haven’t spoken to Ryan since that day, I can never go behind your back to do something like that without letting you know. But I have to tell you this, your mum is happy right now and I won’t let you be selfish to ruin that because of lust. Who knows if you and Barth explore this thing you both claim to have for each other, it might go south and things won’t work out and it will end up bursting in your faces.”
I inhaled sharply, her words cut into me deeply as reality slammed right back into me. Summer was right. I can’t be selfish.
My mum was finally happy and I was on the verge of ruining it for her because I claim to be in love with Barth. But…
“Don’t have second thoughts,” She began as if reading my mind. “There are other boys out there and if you open your eyes, you will see that they are more deserving boys. Barth is violent and I won’t want him to ruin you with that.”
I nod, pulling her into my arms. “Thank you Summer.”
I could feel her smile as she patted my back softly. “What are friends for?”
I felt somewhat relieved feeling letting this off my chest but forgetting about Barth and letting go won’t be easy. As we disengaged from the hug, I smiled so she wouldn’t see the fleeting emotions in my eyes.
We walked downstairs with the intention of taking a walk around the neighbourhood to get a little best friend bonding time, the sound of laughter coming from the living room.
My eyes twitched as I spotted the visitor.
Ryan stood there, looking polished and perfect as ever in a camel hair coat. He held a small velvet box in his hand.
“Merry Christmas Yvonne,” he said with a big smile on his face, his eyes fixed on me. The warmth in them made my skin crawl. “I didn’t see you after the party last night so I decided to come back here this morning to give you the gift I had gotten for you.”
From the hallway, I heard a low, dangerous creak of the floorboard. I needed no soothsayer to let me know that Barth was already downstairs as well.
“What are you doing here, Ryan Hathway?” His voice sounded so thick and filled with malice as he glared at Ryan, his jaw tight enough that I thought they would snap at any second.