Chapter 2

CHAPTER2

“Kill. Me,” Morgan managed to get out as her grip tightened around the towel that she was hugging against her chest while she prayed that Eric took pity on her and stopped talking before it was too late.

There was a heavy sigh and then…

“How did I fuck up this badly, Morgan?” the man that wouldn’t shut up asked while she lay there wondering why she didn’t leave when she had the chance.

Because she was an idiot, that’s why, Morgan realized when the man that she’d never thought she would see again released another long-suffering sigh, causing her poor head to pound harder. Not sure how much more of this she could take, Morgan slowly, ever so slowly, moved to stand up only to decide that was a bad idea when she remembered what happened the last time she tried to become vertical and settled for turning around, shoving the shower curtain out of the way and crawling into the oversized shower stall.

Once she was there, Morgan blindly reached up, slapped at the tile that matched her bathroom in the townhouse next to this one until she found the faucet, turned it on, and promptly returned to the fetal position, praying that Eric took pity on her and left her alone so that she could die in peace. She felt herself begin to relax as the hot water slowly worked its way through the dress that was probably ruined now, closed her eyes, and-

Found herself groaning when Eric shoved the curtain open the rest of the way with a heavy sigh and asked the question that she’d been wondering since he’d decided to propose to the Wicked Bitch of the East, “What the hell was I thinking, Morgan?”

“Can we talk about this later?” Morgan asked, regretting her decision to do those shots with Trevor, but at the time, she’d thought that they were a good idea.

“How do I keep fucking up my life?” Eric asked, ignoring her question.

“I really don’t think you want me to answer that,” Morgan mumbled as she reached over, grabbed the towel she’d abandoned on the bathroom floor and dragged it inside the shower and shoved it beneath her head.

“I’m done with women,” Eric said with a heavy sigh that had her cracking one eye open to glare at him because she’d heard this all before.

Since he didn’t actually want a response, Morgan closed her eyes again and tried not to think about how much she had to drink last night. She was never drinking again, Morgan decided as she listened to Eric ramble on about how badly he’d messed up because that’s what she did when the man that she’d been in love with her whole life needed to vent about another woman.

She listened.

She listened while he wondered why it didn’t work out this time.

She listened while he wondered why he couldn’t seem to fall in love with any of them.

She listened to all the things that she didn’t want to hear because he was her best friend, but this time, this time would be the last time.

She couldn’t do this anymore.

He didn’t love her and as much as it hurt to finally accept it, Morgan knew that he would never see her as anything more than a little sister. For years, she’d told herself that was enough, but she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. She needed more, but as long as Eric was in her life that would never happen.

She’d tried moving on, tried dating, tried pretending that she could actually fall in love with someone else, but it only made everything worse, so she’d stopped trying. She’d focused on Bradford Remodeling, the company they’d started when they were in college, and told herself that it was enough, but it wasn’t.

She wanted more.

She wanted-

“We should do it,” Eric said, making her frown only to make her groan when the water was suddenly turned off.

“Do what?” Morgan asked, opening her eyes only to sigh when he tossed a towel at her head.

“We should go,” Eric said, nodding in agreement to whatever he’d been rambling on about as she carefully sat up only to decide that was enough for right now and sat back against the wall as she wrapped the towel around herself.

“Where should we go?” Morgan mumbled, already closing her eyes as she settled in for a lovely nap.

“Fuck it. We’re going,” Eric said as she felt herself drift off, only to make her open her eyes in terror when he asked, “Where’s your passport?”

“Wait! What do you need my passport for?” Morgan asked, struggling not to panic, but it was kind of difficult at the moment.

Instead of answering her, Eric headed towards his room, leaving a trail of water in his wake and she…and she…

She couldn’t move fast enough.

Oh, God, no, Morgan thought as she managed to get to her feet, slipped, cursed, and struggled to figure out how she was going to explain why everything she owned was packed in boxes. She should have left when she had the chance, Morgan berated herself as she stumbled out of his bathroom, cursed when she saw that his bedroom was empty and moved her drunk ass towards the hallway, praying that she got there before she was forced to do something that she’d kind of been hoping that a politely worded email sent from the safety of a hotel room located in another state would take care of.

She should have left last night like she’d planned, but she hadn’t been able to resist the urge to see him one last time. It had been a mistake, and now, she was going to have to tell Eric Bradford, her best friend, business partner, and neighbor that she was leaving. She was going to have to-

Make it back to the bathroom before it was too late, Morgan realized with something close to panic as she was forced to turn around and stumble her way back to the bathroom so that she could become better acquainted with his toilet. Once that was done, and god, how much did she drink last night? Morgan forced herself to get back up, grabbed Eric’s toothbrush and covered it with an unholy amount of toothpaste, shoved it in her mouth, and went after him.

Once she made it to the hallway, Morgan continued brushing her teeth somewhat frantically as her gaze shot towards the door that Eric installed when they’d moved in so that their townhouses were connected and-

“Why aren’t you packing?” Eric asked, drawing her attention to find him searching through his desk drawers.

“Why would I be packing?” Morgan asked as her gaze flickered back to the door connecting their townhouses and nearly sighed with relief when she saw that it was still closed.

“Because our plane leaves in four hours,” Eric said, making her frown.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, forcing her attention away from the door to find Eric sitting at his desk, typing something into his computer as he glanced down at the passport that she’d thought she’d lost on the desk next to him.

“I changed the tickets to today,” he said as though that would explain everything.

“What tickets?” Morgan asked around his toothbrush.

“The ones that I paid a fortune for,” Eric said, frowning down at something while Morgan stood there, the toothbrush in her hand slowly coming to a stop as she tried to make sense out of what he was saying.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re going on that honeymoon,” Eric bit out as he continued doing whatever he was doing as Morgan stood there, unable to help but blink at him while she waited for him to say something that made sense.

“There’s no way in hell that I’m about to let this trip go to waste and I’m sure as hell not about to let Amber take it, which means that we’re going,” Eric explained as though it had already been decided.

“I can’t go,” Morgan said, hoping that he left it at that since she really wasn’t sure that she would be able to talk her way out of this while she was hungover.

“You really can, though,” Eric murmured with one last click and a satisfied sigh.

“I have too much to do, but you should definitely go,” Morgan said with a hopeful smile and a nod because this could still work.

“There’s nothing on the books for the next month. Besides, we could both use a vacation,” Eric said, grabbing her passport and headed back to his bedroom.

“Now’s not a good time for me,” Morgan said, reaching up to rub her temples when she felt a headache starting at the back of her head and-

She just needed a break.

She wanted to start over somewhere new where no one knew her and didn’t send her pitying looks every time Eric’s name was mentioned. She wanted a chance to have a real life and she would never get that if she stayed here. At least if she left, she’d finally have a chance to get over him. She should have left a long time ago, but every time Morgan tried, she always found a reason to stay, but that all changed when he decided to ask Amber to marry him.

When he broke the news to her, she’d forced a smile on her face and pretended that her heart wasn’t breaking. She’d struggled to keep it together, forced herself to sit there and pretend that she was happy for him. When he was done, she’d somehow managed one more “Congratulations” and a smile before she walked into her apartment and headed for her bathroom, feeling numb as she closed the door behind her and finally lost it.

She’d spent the entire night sitting on the bathroom floor, realizing just how pathetic she was and when she was done, Morgan washed her face and decided that she’d finally had enough. She’d decided that it was finally time to put this behind her and move on. So, while Eric had been focused on getting married and starting Baker House, she’d focused on starting over.

She’d put in more hours, taken on more jobs, took several side jobs, making sure to put every penny that she could get her hands on away so that she could leave before it was too late. Two months ago, she’d used a meeting that she had with a client in New York as an excuse to take a side trip down to Florida, where she’d interviewed with a company that had plenty of work to keep her busy.

They dealt with old houses on Florida’s west coast, mostly old turn-of-the-century-Spanish-style mansions that they modernized, but it wasn’t anything that Morgan couldn’t handle. For the past two months, she’d been contacting contractors down in Florida, studying old building trends and styles and getting set up so that she could get right to work as soon as she arrived, and hopefully, that would be enough to distract her from what she was leaving behind.

“We’re going,” Eric said firmly, reminding her that she had something very important to do.

Distract Eric long enough so that she could make a run for it.

“I told you that I can’t go right now, Eric. Why don’t you ask Tom to go with you or, better yet, ask one of your cousins?” Morgan suggested with a hopeful smile that slowly died away when he leveled a glare on her.

“You mean the cousin that made the bet or the one that fucked my fiancée?” Eric drawled, making her wince as she watched him grab the suitcase he’d packed a few days ago and set it on his bed.

“And Tom?” Morgan asked, telling herself that there was still hope.

“Has apparently been fucking Amber for the past year,” Eric said dryly, making Morgan frown because that actually explained a lot.

“You could always take Theo and use this time to get to know your brother better,” Morgan suggested, once again sending him a hopeful smile.

“I would rather hear why you’re trying to get out of this,” Eric said, throwing her a questioning look as he made his way to the bathroom.

“Because I have too much to do right now,” Morgan said, hoping that would be enough to get him to drop this.

It wasn’t.

“Well, unless you took on a new project that I don’t know about or suddenly developed a life, I would say that you were full of shit,” Eric drawled from the bathroom, reminding her why she couldn’t stay.

It was time to move on.

It was time to-

“I can’t do this without you, Morgan.”

-resign herself to being there for him one last time.