Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Brynn

L et the inquisition begin. I purposely didn’t leave with the rest of my family because I need some advice from Tessa and Kenzie without my mom’s involvement. There will be a time to tell her everything, but I need to process all of this first.

Ryah and Nolan grow sleepy, their moms picking them up and cuddling them. I’m not sure I’m ready for a family, but it sure looks nice on them.

“Spill it, girl,” Tessa says.

I pick up a pillow from the couch and put it over my face, my cheeks heating.

“You two are totally hot together.”

I drop the pillow as Kenzie looks at Tessa, who nods.

“He remembered your coffee order,” Tessa coos.

I roll my eyes, picking up my coffee mug and sipping the flavor he introduced me to. “Well, I could have easily never drunk it again after what happened.”

“What did happen?” Kenzie asks.

I blow out a breath. “I went to London to study abroad for a semester. My first weekend there, I met Pierce at a pub, spent the weekend with him, and… we connected.” I look between my sister-in-law and her best friend.

“No judgment here. It only took your brother a cross-country road trip to make me fall for him.” Tessa kisses Ryah’s head.

“I can’t even describe it. It sounds unrealistic and completely naive. I was young and stupid and thought that… I don’t know.” I sip my coffee.

They give me a sympathetic look.

“Just because you were young doesn’t mean it wasn’t real.” Kenzie lays Nolan on the couch between us, putting a pillow on the side just in case. “The heart feels what it feels. Age has no bearing.”

“You writing greeting cards now?” Tessa laughs.

“Sometimes it’s just the wrong timing.” Kenzie raises her eyebrows at me.

“It was definitely the wrong timing, but I’m worried it was more because I was in a foreign country, and I was clinging to a connection I found because I was homesick. After finding out he was my TA, I felt completely alone again.”

“We can all figure out how you both fell for one another, but tell us the problem. Why aren’t you acting on your attraction to him now?” Tessa stands and takes Ryah to the pack-n-play in the corner, then pours herself another cup of coffee before sitting with her legs crossed in the chair.

“The problem? Which one?”

“The reason why you’re hiding your excitement about this coincidental reconnection.” Tessa arches an eyebrow over her mug.

I narrow my eyes at her. “I’m not excited.”

“Yeah, and I wasn’t excited when Andrew showed up at my brother’s for Thanksgiving either.” Kenzie bursts out laughing. Nolan stirs, but when Kenzie puts her hand on his tummy, he calms back down.

“Yeah, I wasn’t excited when Tre bailed me out of jail either,” Tessa says.

They both laugh, and I toss a wadded napkin at Kenzie since she’s closer. It falls on Nolan.

“Trying to kill my kid?” she jokes.

They both sober up and stare at me. I guess it’s time I let myself remember the humiliation I felt that day. If anything, it will help solidify exactly why I shouldn’t give him another chance.

I’d woken to a text message from Pierce asking how it was possible that having me in his bed for two nights had already ruined him. He wanted to see me that night and said he’d be available for dinner.

I stopped at the café, ordered a coffee, and added cinnamon, thinking of him and the comfort I’d felt around him that weekend. I’d never been someone who got close to someone I was dating really fast. I made friends quickly, but when it came to relationships, they were slow to build. Mostly because I was the youngest Russell. The little sister of Tre and Carter. The boys I’d grown up with had been intimidated by that fact.

And truth was, if they didn’t want to date me because they were scared of my brothers, then I didn’t want to date them anyway.

I was pretty sure I was in this love bubble that Pierce had built around us.

We figured out when and where we’d go to dinner, and I told him I’d meet him there, but he said he wanted to pick me up. I sent him my address and that’s where our messages left off.

I walked into my first class of the day excited to finally take some classes that had to do with my major, unlike my freshman year back at the University of Oregon. The minute I stepped into the room and stood at the top of the stairs of the lecture hall, something felt different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I stepped down to the first row because I was the kind of student who wanted to be front and center, and that’s when I stopped dead in my tracks.

Pierce was standing at the end of the other row, his gaze on me as if it had followed me since I walked through the door.

I smiled, wondering why he was in this class, but we’d never talked about what each of us did. I thought maybe he’d started school late since he was older than me, but what were the chances we’d be in the same class? At the same time, I didn’t care. I was just elated to see him.

“Hey,” I said, and he looked over his shoulder as though he was checking for someone.

I noticed right away that the energy around him was different than the weekend, different even than his morning texts.

“I thought you were a tourist?” he asked in a blunt tone that made me draw back.

“Yeah, kind of. I’m studying abroad this semester.” I smiled like an idiot who wasn’t connecting the dots.

“So, you’re in this class?”

I nodded then forced a smile. “Are you too? Want to sit next to each other? I promise not to cheat.” I laughed, but he didn’t, and my stomach sunk.

Oh my god, he had a girlfriend. Although there had been no trace of another woman at his flat, I figured that had to be it.

“Is she in this class?” I asked, attempting to restrain my fury.

His head reared back, and he stared at me the way I assumed I was staring at him. Both of us confused. “What?”

I didn’t appreciate his tone—it was rude and dismissive. It made me think that I had been so wrong about him.

“Your girlfriend,” I said.

Of course he had a girlfriend. He was gorgeous, and I’d seen all the girls’ heads turn when we were walking around the city.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats.” The man who I assumed was the professor came in looking very scholarly in his tweed jacket and slacks. In my head, I envisioned him in a leather chair, sucking at the end of a pipe.

I took the first seat by me, but Pierce slid two seats over, grabbing his bag from the seat next to me. Okay then. Tears welled in my eyes, but I sucked them back. How could I have been so wrong about him?

The professor didn’t waste any time. “I’m Professor Jorgensen, and welcome to Principles of Marketing. If you’re not supposed to be in this class, then find your way out.”

No one left.

“Okay then. Along with me, you get the assistance of a teacher’s assistant this year. Stand up, Mr. Wainwright.” He signaled in Pierce’s direction, and I turned my head to look behind Pierce, but Pierce was the one who stood.

What the hell?

He turned and waved to the class, completely avoiding looking at me.

“Believe me, he will be easier on you than me, so you should look forward to his lectures. Now let’s get started…”

The rest of the class was a blur. I didn’t know what to do or how to act, and I didn’t feel Pierce’s eyes on me once.

I waited patiently for class to end, but as soon as the professor let us go, Pierce grabbed his bag and left with the professor, leaving me no chance to ask any more questions.

“And what happened at dinner?” Kenzie asks, eyes wide.

I shake my head. “There was no dinner.”

“Why not?”

“I texted him, but he never texted me back. Ever. He ignored me for the first month, then kept challenging me the rest of the semester. Poking holes and questioning every one of my responses. We’d go back and forth, and it just felt like he was trying to embarrass me. I was so hurt and broken that I’d put my blind faith in someone, and he just tossed me aside like I was nothing. Wouldn’t even give me the respect of a conversation. Mortification mixed with shame, and I dreaded going to that class the entire semester. I mean, we weren’t in love. It was one weekend, but it really felt like the start of something and… I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to justify what you felt. Your feelings are valid, and right now I want to stomp out of here, up that mountain, and push him off a cliff.” Tessa goes to the cupboard and takes a Christmas cookie out of the tin someone must have brought.

“But she’s just going to drown her anger in sugar instead.” Kenzie laughs.

“I should tell your brother. That’s what I should do.” Tessa points the cookie at us, making her way back over to the couch. Before she reaches it, she stops, goes back, swipes the tin off the counter, and comes back, setting it in her lap.

“You’re not telling anyone. It was six years ago. Look at me. I’m doing great.” I hold out my arms.

Kenzie quirks an eyebrow.

“What?” My forehead wrinkles.

“You’re not the easy-going, smart-mouthed Brynn I’m used to. Him being here is affecting you, so tell us what you’re thinking.” Kenzie jabs me with a question I’m not ready to answer.

“Give me some time to get over the fact that I’m sharing a villa, my holiday, and my family with him this year. I don’t know… part of me thinks that maybe it feels unfinished because I never got to say goodbye. I didn’t attend the final class because my grandpa was having surgery.”

“I guess that could be it,” Tessa says with a frown.

“Or maybe it’s just that I need to process the fact that he wants a second chance with me. Said he wants me back.”

“Aww…” Kenzie says, her hand over her heart.

Tessa scowls at her best friend. “Not aww… try asshole.”

I raise my hand at Tessa. “I love this whole older sister protective vibe you got going on, but that might be a bit much.”

“So, you’ve forgiven him?” Tessa asks.

“I don’t know. I think I’m grown up enough to understand why he backed away, even if he did handle it terribly, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to trust that he won’t hurt me again.”

They nod.

“Understandable,” Tessa says.

Kenzie places her hand on my knee. “Just don’t miss the opportunity. I mean.” She glances at Tessa and puts her hand up to her as if that’s going to keep Tessa from saying anything. “He clearly still affects you, and I see how you look at him sometimes.”

“I do not.”

She gives me an expression asking if I really want to argue about this.

“Ugh,” I say and let my head flop back into the couch cushion.

“It was six years ago, and you were both younger, in a time of your life where your future was in limbo. I’m sure you’ve both grown up a lot since that time.”

Why did I stay back to talk to them?

“If he hurts you again, he can expect some TNT,” Tessa says.

Kenzie rolls her eyes.

“TNT?” I arch an eyebrow.

“Tre and Tessa. We’re explosive together.” She pretends she’s punching the air. I do love our sisterly bond.

“In the bedroom, Tessa,” Kenzie says.

“That is true.”

They laugh, and I pretend to cover my ears.

Kenzie’s words float around in my head, but I’m not ready to absorb them just yet. I guess time will tell. We’re stuck together for the next seven days, so I have time to figure it out.