Page 18 of Pretend

She’d thought,hoped, that by coming here that they’d be able to avoidthis.

She just…

She couldn’t do this.

Normally when this happened, Morgan resigned herself to the bullshit ahead, but this time, she just couldn’t do it. Not when she knew that she was going to force herself to walk away when this was all over. She didn’t want to spend the next week dealing with pouting, glaring, and bitching and that’s exactly what would happen if she didn’t put a stop to this now.

She really wasn’t looking forward to the bitchy stage, Morgan thought as she stood there, debating her options. She could give into the urge to beat the shit out of him with that pillow or she could suck it up and do what needed to be done.

“Are we really going to do this?” Morgan asked, praying that he took pity on her and snapped out of this before it was too late.

“Yes!” came angrily hissed reply as Eric moved his arm up just far enough so that he could glare at her.

Nodding, Morgan turned around, walked back into the bedroom, grabbed the phone off the nightstand and ordered breakfast, ignoring him when he snapped, “I’m not hungry!”

Once she was done, Morgan grabbed her clothes and took a shower. When she was done, she got dressed, brushed her hair and pulled it into a ponytail as she prepared herself for what needed to be done.

“You’re being insensitive to my needs!” Eric snapped from his spot on the couch when the knock came at their hotel door.

Still ignoring him, Morgan headed for the door and signed for the food, murmured an apology for the crazed man on the couch bitching about how insensitive she was being and sat down with a cup of coffee as she debated how she was going to handle this.

“You’re the worst best friend ever!”

Violently, Morgan decided, taking one last sip of coffee before she popped a hashbrown in her mouth, grabbed the bowl of maple syrup and dumped it on the double-stack of pancakes that she’d ordered with the hopes of putting a stop to the bullshit before she was forced to bury him alive. With that in mind, she grabbed the plate and walked back over to the couch as she stabbed her fork through a large bite of pancake before placing the plate on the coffee table and turned around, determined to get this over with.

Morgan shoved Eric’s arm away, pinched his nose and shoved the maple syrup-soaked bite of pancake in his mouth before he could stop her. Ignoring his glare, she grabbed the plate and placed it on his chest with a glare of her own that dared him to bitch about it and-

“We’re no longer speaking,” Eric informed her as he grabbed the fork and angrily stabbed it through another bite of pancake, glaring at her as he shoved it in his mouth.

“Please tell me that this isn’t about Amber,” Morgan said, not really sure that she could take this right now.

“This has nothing to do with her,” Eric muttered, looking lost in thought as he shoved another bite of pancake in his mouth.

“Then, why are you pouting?” Morgan asked, moving to steal a bite of pancake only to rethink that decision when he narrowed his eyes on her.

“Because I fucked up,” Eric said, slowly exhaling as he placed the plate down on the coffee table so that he could rub his hands down his face while she stood there, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

“And this isn’t about Amber?” Morgan asked slowly, watching as he dropped his hands away as he stood up.

With a humorless chuckle, Eric said, “Not even a little fucking bit,” as he made his way to the small table by the patio doors and helped himself to her coffee.

“Are you planning on telling me what’s going on?” Morgan asked, taking in everything from his messy short, black hair to the early morning stubble marking his jaw, and felt her stomach turn when she saw the anguished look in his eyes.

He-

“Did you mean it?” Eric murmured quietly as he stared down at the coffee in his hands.

“Mean what?” Morgan asked, unable to help but frown in confusion as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

“About not seeing me as a brother,” Eric said softly as his gaze flickered in her direction.

Shaking her head, Morgan admitted, “I definitely don’t see you as a brother, but as the deeply disturbed man that goes out of his way to piss me off for no other reason than to see if I’ll actually go through with any of the threats of violence that I’ve made over the years.”

Nodding slowly, Eric said, “Fair enough,” as he popped a hashbrown in his mouth and made his way to the bathroom with a satisfied sigh, leaving her standing there wondering what the hell just happened and she was pretty sure that something just happened.

Whatever it was, it probably wouldn’t end well for her, Morgan thought with a sad shake of her head as she picked up the plate that he’d abandoned and-

“Thanks.”