Page 4 of The Cabin-A Reverse Harem Romance
We’d been on the road for several hours already, and I was aching to be at our destination. Not only because I was worried about my truck and us, but I was worried about Elise. I’d met her boyfriend Brad, briefly, when they first started dating. I hadn’t liked him on sight. Not one little bit. There was just something about him that pinged my radar and set off warning bells in my head.
Of course, Elise told me I was biased, that I wouldn’t like anyone she dated, and I couldn’t say she was entirely wrong. In a lot of ways, she was, very right, in fact. I thought my own feelings got in the way of the truth. They did that sometimes. Especially, when it came to Elle. When it came to her, my thinking wasn’t always the clearest or most level-headed.
Instead of freaking out about Nolan’s driving, I tried to put my focus elsewhere. I closed my eyes, tried to block it all out, and tried to sleep. I let my mind drift back to the time when I ran into the two of them at the Happy Eggs Cafe near her house.
Happy Eggs had always been a favorite place for the group of us to hang out – and, it was a place that honored Aaron’s legacy with a photo and framed article about him on the wall. The staff at the café always had a table for us, no matter how busy they might be. It was no surprise Elle was there that day, but what had surprised me was the man she was with.
He was older than her – and not just by a couple years either. He was at least a decade older, if not more. Successful businessman, sharp, and well put together. At least, I could respect that. The day I ran into them, he was wearing a crisp, finely tailored suit. But when I shook hands with him, they were extraordinarily soft, and proved to me that he’d never actually worked hard a day in his life.
Sure, I guess you could call sitting at a desk and running meetings work. Sort of. It wasn’t the type that’ll put hair on your chest though. His nails were clean and well-manicured, and he had hair that reminded me of a shampoo ad. He looked handsome enough. A little thin, with a receding hairline, but otherwise, attractive enough. Except for that smile. It never went to his eyes. He seemed to be sneering or laughing at you on the inside. Then again, I’d met the man for all of ten minutes, it was probably easy to say I was a little biased.
As I felt the hum of the truck’s tires on the pavement below us, and I recalled all of the images from the past, I had a feeling in my gut. It felt like a brick that weighed me down. I should have said something sooner. I should have told her what I thought about him. Should have told her that she deserved better. Of course she deserved better than some knuckle-dragging tax accountant, or whatever the fuck he was. She deserved so much more than that. But, she’d tell me I was just jealous and acting like a fool. Maybe I had been, but I’d also been right.
He wasn’t the man she thought he was.
I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but I knew it wasn’t good. Her parents had said she’d been crying when they talked to her, which really struck me. Nobody I knew had ever made Elle cry. That girl was one of the toughest women I’d ever met. She was just like her brother, strong and stubborn. Tough as nails and a fighter.
Like most of us, she pushed her emotions down, and the only time I’d ever actually seen her cry was at her brother’s funeral. So, to imagine some asshole boyfriend was hurting her badly enough that she broke down those barriers and cried? Hell no. No one made her cry. Not even I did that, and I admit that I was pretty shitty to her. But she’d never cried because of me.
I opened my eyes and stared at the bleak, white landscape in front of us. No one in the truck knew what had happened between Elle and me – and they never would. It had been a mistake. Something that we shouldn’t have done. Aaron had been my best friend, and Elise was his sister. It never should have happened, and yet, we’d ended up in each other’s beds anyway.
The guys would kill me they found out. Hell, it actually might be worse than that. At least death was simple, and it was permanent. No, if they found out, they might disown me, which would be a thousand times worse than death. No one messed with Elle. That was the rule, and that was the code of our group. Yet, I’d broken that sacred rule anyway.
