Guy Hater (Fisher Brothers 2)

Britney folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. “True or false?”

“True,” I admitted, practically wincing. I wasn’t a homewrecker, and I’d never considered myself a weak woman. If a man was married or had a girlfriend, he was off-limits. No questions asked, end of story.

But this had been different. I hadn’t known that Frank was unavailable when I started to fall for him. I knew now, yes, but that didn’t stop my heart from wanting him. It didn’t stop my body from reacting to thoughts of his. And it didn’t stop my mind from thinking about him all day long. After hearing his story through his voice mails, I was sympathetic to him and his situation.

But Frank didn’t belong to me.

He wasn’t mine.

He belonged to someone else.

And the last thing in the world I wanted to consider was that I could be the type of woman who could still want a man who wasn’t single.

I was afraid that if I saw him, I’d still want him, and that went against everything I believed in, everything I stood for as a person. I’d spent my entire life deploring cheating and those who cheated, so what would that make me if I still wanted Frank when I knew for a fact he wasn’t single? Would that mean I had to hate myself?

“So you’ll just never see him again? That’s it?” Britney waved a hand in the air. “Good-bye forever, Frank Fisher?”

“I don’t know, Britney.”

“Would you be able to do that? Act like you never met him?” She continued to push, like the concept was too insane for her to comprehend.

“Britney . . .” I breathed out her name in defeat. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know.”

And it was the truth. My mind was a mess of jumbled thoughts, ideas, and feelings that I refused to sort out in that moment. I didn’t have all the answers, and trying to figure it out right now was exhausting.

“What if he broke up with her?” she asked, her tone softer.

Frank actually breaking it off after all this time seemed like a long shot, a fantasy only a stupid girl would cling to and hope for. Why would he do it now? Because of me? No. I knew better than to think that guys left the security and comfort of their relationships for someone else. My dad might have done it, but he was definitely the exception, not the rule. Most men led women on, made promises they couldn’t keep, and kept up affairs for as long as they could get away with them.

“I don’t want to think about what-ifs.”

“Why not?”

“Because they aren’t real.”

I offered her a slight smile before pushing up from the couch. I needed the kind of clarity and peace that only a good night’s sleep could provide.

As I walked down the hallway toward my room, I hoped I would get at least that much.

Parental Advice

Frank

A quick knock sounded on the office door before it flew open.

“Nick, I told you to leave me the fuck alone,” I growled without looking up from my paperwork.

“That’s no way to greet your old man,” a familiar deep voice said, and my head shot up.

“Dad!” I jumped from my chair to give him a hug. It seemed like forever since I’d last seen him.

He hitched a thumb toward the bar. “Please tell me why I just watched your brother take his shirt off for a herd of screaming women.”

Was it closing time already?

“You don’t want to know.” When I rolled my eyes, Dad laughed. “What are you doing here? It’s late. Is everything okay?”

He waved his hand before settling into the chair in front of my desk. “Everything’s fine. Your mother and I had a work party tonight, and we wanted to stop by on our way home.”