Faking It with My Enemy Alpha: A Brother's Best Friend Single Dad Romance by Jaclyn Hartley

Author:Jaclyn Hartley [Hartley, Jaclyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Freya

I couldn’t help but be sucked into his words. He spoke so openly about his life that I wanted to kiss away all his doubts about himself. It was ridiculous to think I could manage that, but it was valiant to believe it.

“Has my brother mentioned our family?”

“Not a peep.”

Miles, not mentioning our family, wasn’t abnormal. We tried to avoid the topic with all we had. It wasn’t that we didn’t love them. It was that we loved them so much that it physically hurt to be reminded. We only talked on rare occasions now. Besides Evie, my brother was the only thing I had left of back then.

“We were the opposite. We didn’t have money to excess. My parents wanted to rely on God to provide every need. My mom didn’t work because my dad said it wasn’t correct for women to have a job. When I wanted to go to college, he threw a tantrum. I remember when Miles was sick, like, extremely sick, they had to be forced to get medical help so he didn’t die. It was horrible. Instead of having a family dinner, we were force-fed scripture. When my brother went to college, that was it. I was stuck until it was my turn. We haven’t spoken to them in years.”

My voice was cracking now. I felt the constriction begin. The water in my eyes threatened to overflow like a dam that had reached capacity. I twisted my fingers around each other trying to calm my anxiety by aimlessly fidgeting. Even at work, I keep a fidget gadget on my desk. Comparing war stories wasn’t something I reveled in, but unlike others, Elias didn’t seem like he was pitying me.

He sat in the night air with me, listening to the bugs chirp around us. This man was mystifying in ways I couldn’t wrap my mind around. I just told him how my family was religious fanatics, and he’s stoic; he seems so put together and in control of his emotions. The conversation we were in did not have a rich man’s flair. He seemed pure with his words. It scared me when he moved to get up because I didn’t want him to leave yet, but he simply looked down on me.

“Want a beer? I feel like we need one after this chat.”

“How about a double whiskey and ginger ale?”

“Go big or go home.”

I stayed where I had been, except wiggling my toes to regain the feeling. It wasn’t cold out, but they had just been still for so long that it felt like a million ants on my legs. As Miles would say, my legs have TV static in them.

I laughed childishly when Elias returned, hauling the rest of a bottle of Gentleman Jack and a two-liter of Schweppes Ginger Ale.

“This seemed smarter.”

We returned to how we were sitting prior and passed the bottle back and forth between us several times. Whatever was in this bottle was a lot more than double. Within thirty minutes, I felt the alcohol take over.

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