Page 99 of The Rules of Dating a Younger Man

“Brayden—”

“You know what? Maybe you shouldn’t come anymore.”

Alex’s eyes welled up. But I didn’t care. I turned away. “I got shit to do.”

***

Hours later, I was still in a piss-poor mood, sitting in the hotel bar nursing my second glass of whiskey. I’d come in to take the edge off, which the alcohol had done, but now I’d slid from anger to fucking depressed. I raised my hand to ask for the check just as the woman responsible for my shitty mood walked in.

Alex came over. “Can I sit for a minute?”

I stood. “It’s a free country. I was leaving anyway.”

“No!” She raised her voice, then leaned in. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. And I don’t want to sit at the bar alone. I came to talk to you.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out before sitting back down. “Fine.”

The bartender approached. “What can I get you, ma’am?”

“Nothing for me, thank you.”

I lifted my glass. “I’ll take one more. I feel like I’m about to need it.”

The guy looked between me and Alex and nodded. “Coming right up.”

We sat quietly for a long time. Eventually she spoke. “I won’t come again after today, but I need to say a few things before I go.”

The idea of never seeing her again crushed my soul, yet I stayed silent.

She took a deep breath. “I’m assuming you thought I was on the phone today with a man I’d fallen in love with over the last few months. But I wasn’t. I was on the phone with a man I fell in love with when I was eight.” She turned to look at me. “It was Wells, Brayden.”

I looked over and met Alex’s eyes.

“I’ll walk away, but I can’t do it with you thinking what we had was so insignificant that I could fall for someone else so soon. The photo Wells posted on Instagram? That was his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s brother. Wells tried to fix me up because I’d been moping around. He meant well. And to be honest, I thought about going out with him. Everett was a very nice man. But he wasn’t you, so I never did.”

“So you’re not dating that guy?”

Alex shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

“Are you dating anyone else?”

“No.” She stood. “Anyway, it was important for me to tell you that. What we had meant something to me, Brayden. And it will take me a long time to move on. I didn’t want you to think anything less.”

I swallowed, tasting salt in my throat. “You don’t have to leave the project.”

She smiled sadly. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “I’m sure. I know it means a lot to you.”

“It does. Thank you.”

My cell phone vibrated on the bar, the caller’s name flashing on the screen. Alex’s eyes jumped to mine. “Lacey?” she said.

I felt like a deer caught in the headlights. “It’s new.”

CHAPTER 23

Brayden