Bad Seed

“Enough,” Michael said firmly

“Yes, I’ve had enough,” I said. “I’d like to go now.”

Joshua didn’t say a word, just stood staring at me as Michael shifted beside me.

I rolled my eyes and pivoted on my feet without a word. Michael wrapped his arm around my waist, and we hurried to the car. Once we were safely tucked away inside, all my emotions hit me at once. I felt like the car was spinning beneath me.

“Listen,” Michael said. He put his hand on my knee. “Are you all right?”

“Can you please take me home?” I asked without looking at him.

Michael hesitated for a second. I knew he wanted to talk about what just happened, but I couldn’t. Not yet.

“Sure,” he finally said. “I’ll take you home.”

CHAPTER 18

MICHAEL

I barely slept at all Monday night. After I dropped Julie off at her house, I drove around in circles until the early hours of the morning. As m

uch as I wanted to talk to Julie, I knew she needed space. Still, that didn’t stop me from thinking about her nonstop all night. When I finally made it home, I was too wired to rest. I lay in bed and stared at my ceiling, barely drifting off just before the sun came up.

Marcy wasn’t yet at her desk when I arrived at the office. I hurried to my desk and let my head fall into my hands. Today was going to be a long day. I had a lot of work to do, but I already knew I wouldn’t be able to focus.

I could still see Julie’s face in my mind. When she got out of the car, she looked so confused and hurt. Her entire body seemed to have deflated. She barely made eye contact with me when she said goodnight. I wanted to kiss her, but I knew better than to try. She was upset. I didn’t know if her anger was directed at me or just the situation. Either way, I told myself to stay away from her for a while. At least until she came to me.

“Good morning,” Marcy said when she arrived. “Is there anything you need, Mr. Smart?”

I looked up and shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Thank you, Marcy.”

She smiled and stepped out of sight. I could hear the springs in her chair squeak as she sat down. Then there was silence.

The silence pressed in on me as the morning dragged on. I fired up my computer and hastily answered a few emails. Marcy gave me some messages from the day before, but I couldn’t bring myself to return them. The thought of talking shop was almost too much to bear when Julie was still dancing circles in my mind.

After lunch, I knew I wouldn’t be able to work another minute. I transferred all my emails and phone calls to Marcy so no one would be ignored. As I hurried out of my office, Marcy looked at me with a startled expression.

“Is everything okay?” she asked nervously.

“Everything is fine,” I lied. “I just need to take the rest of the day off. I’ll be available on my phone if something comes up.”

“Okay…” Marcy said slowly.

I didn’t give her a chance to question me further. There was only one thing I could think about and that was Julie.

I jumped in my car and drove like a maniac toward her house. We hadn’t spoken since the night before. I thought about calling her before just showing up, but I wanted to see her face. On my way, I stopped in town and picked up a bouquet of flowers. If I was going to make this thing work between us, then I needed all the help I could get.

My head was still spinning as I pulled up to Julie’s house. I hadn’t heard from either her or Josh since the night before. I thought my brother would at least call me, but nothing. Silence.

I pushed him to the back of my mind as I hurried up to Julie’s front door. My hands were shaking, gripping the flowers so tightly that I thought I might crush them. Luckily, Julie answered the door after just a few seconds.

“I figured it was you,” she said with a shy smile. “Come on in.”

“Are you okay?” I asked quickly. “I thought about calling you a thousand times last night, but I—”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” Julie said. “I needed some time to think.”

I didn’t know what to say. I was terrified that after seeing Josh last night, Julie would duck and run. Our relationship was so new that any little thing could derail it. The last thing I wanted was for Julie to end things before they even had a chance to get started. And I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Josh either. I knew there was a code that said you didn’t date your brother’s ex, but I was completely in love with this woman and it would kill me to walk away from her.