Page 113 of Your Fault

“Leister,” Briar said in her cloying voice. All she was wearing was a thin gown. Her red hair was pulled back in a bun, and on her face was that smile that brought back so many bad memories.

“Is Noah here?” I asked, looking past her.

“She’s in her room,” she said, stepping aside to let me in.

Well, that had been easy. I ignored her and walked to Noah’s room, but when I opened the door, it was empty.

I turned to see Briar staring at me with a diabolical grin, sitting on the kitchen counter with her nightgown pulled up over her thighs.

“Oops…I forgot, actually she’s not here. Sorry. My memory sucks.”

I ignored her as I headed for the door, until I saw she’d put a padlock on the inside and had locked it behind my back. Trying to control myself, I closed my eyes and summoned all the common sense I could muster.

“Open the fucking door.”

“I see you’ve got the same mouth as always.” She slid off the counter and opened the fridge. “You in the mood for a beer?” she asked, looking me over from head to toe. “Or maybe something else… You’re not much of a beer guy anymore, are you?”

Getting into an argument with her just then was the last thing I wanted. Goddammit. I had tried not to think about the fact Noah was living with her, but I knew something like this would happen sooner or later. I had just hoped today wasn’t the day.

“Briar, I’m not going to play games with you. Not now, not ever. Open the door.”

Leaning against the counter, she pulled the key out from her cleavage. “You want it?” she whispered sexily. “Come get it.”

I strode over in three steps as her wild green eyes observed me, amused. But I knew what was behind them. Briar hated me. She had her reasons to.

“Give me the key, Bri,” I ordered her. “Don’t play with me. You know you’ll end up losing.”

My words made the smile vanish from her lips.

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

I closed my eyes, trying to still my resentment. “Me neither… And I sure as hell didn’t think you’d be living with my girlfriend… Briar, you can’t tell her anything. Are you listening to me?”

I saw a look of bitterness cross her face, and for a moment, I was speechless.

“You worried I might say something that will open her eyes, Nick?” she asked innocently. Briar could put on a thousand different acts, wear a thousand different faces. But I had seen them all.

If Noah ever found out…just the thought of it terrified me.

She grimaced. “You don’t know how to love anyone. Least of all that girl. You don’t deserve her.”

God knew I didn’t deserve her. I didn’t need this, not now. I didn’t want to dig up old memories, feel the same old guilt from before. I’d left all that behind. I let it go when I went to live with my father, a year before I met Noah, and Briar wasn’t supposed to be here. She’d left, and she’d sworn she’d never return. Why in the hell was she back?

“Maybe you’re right, but I’ll stay with her until she tells me to go.”

Unable to believe what she was hearing, Briar reached up and stroked one of my cheeks with her finger.

“You do love her,” she said, as if that were impossible. “So now you’re supposed to be different?”

Her hand reached my hair, but I grabbed it and forced her to step back.

“I’m not the same person you met three years ago. I’ve changed.”

Her full lips smiled. “Nick, you were born a son of a bitch, and you’ll die a son of a bitch.”

I jerked her toward me, losing control for a second, and with my free hand forced her to drop the key. Once I grabbed it, I tried to relax, taking deep breaths.

“I know it’s pointless to tell you this now, but I’m sorry for what I did to you… I really am sorry for what happened.”