Page 95 of Guarding My Love

“Not as much as he had,” he said. “That will teach him to wear white.”

“His tan pants were ripped in the back too,” she said and started to laugh. “I’m not sure why this is funny. I mean, it’s not, but I’m laughing.”

“Delayed reaction,” he said. “I’m not sure I want you alone tonight.”

“I planned on staying with you anyway,” she said. “But you can’t be with me every single night.”

She wasn’t going to move in with anyone.

She liked her space to do her own thing.

Maybe she could understand a little of what Foster went through when he felt the walls were closing in on him.

“Are you afraid of him?” he asked. “Do you think he will come back again?”

“No,” she said. “To both things. He won’t come back. He’s humiliated. But he might make trouble for you. You should be prepared for it.”

“I’m not afraid of him.”

32

NEEDED SUPPORT

“What the fuck, Foster,” Braylon shouted at him on Monday morning.

He hadn’t given his brother a reason when he said he needed to meet with him and maybe should have.

But why bother Braylon on the weekend when he was spending time with Lily?

Because if Braylon knew, then West would, then Laken, and it would get to his mother.

Aileen Carlisle would be on the first plane to New York if she heard what he’d done.

What he didn’t know was if it would be to smack him or tell him he did the right thing.

“I came to you,” he said. “I don’t think anything is going to happen.”

“Bullshit,” Braylon said. “You came to me because you think somethingwillhappen.” Braylon stood up and went to his phone while Foster sat there in his brother’s office. “Yeah, can we come see you?”

Braylon put the phone down. “You just called West?” he asked.

“Yes,” Braylon said. “Let’s go.”

“He doesn’t even know I’m here,” he said.

“Don’t kid yourself. I told him you were coming in when I saw him on the way in.”

His shoulders slumped. “Why?”

“Not because of this,” Braylon said. “Maybe I thought it had to do with Charlotte. I don’t know. I figured if you needed support we could be there for you.”

He couldn’t fault his brother for that. He was coming here for support but not for the kind with his girlfriend.

“There is nothing going on with Charlotte and me,” he said.

“Even after what you did in front of her?” Braylon asked.

His brother was calmer now. Braylon rarely blew up and if he did it was only briefly.

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