BILLY“Really, is everything OK?” Asked Brian.“Yes, she replied. “I'm only telling you this if you promise not to tell Samantha just Tell her it's a business trip”. “After, I'm going to visit my parents for a while”.Brian started to worry. He knew Samantha would get very upset if she didn't hear this directly from Catherine.He also knew she would see straight through these excuses. “OK, whatever you say.Let's go”, said Brian, not wanting to upset her by saying anything more.It wasn't his place to ask what was really wrong.He picked up her suitcase and took it to the car.As he put it in the trunk, he realized that leaving the city was probably the best way for her to deal with her problems.“You're in a hurry, " said a voice on the street as Catherine locked her front door. “Where are you going?”“Oh It's you, " said Cathrine, taking two steps back.She looks scared. “Billy, what are you doing here?” Said Brian, standing by Catherine.He gave him a cold stare. The last time he had s
MASKEDBrian had seen Gonzalez fight in several competitions over the years. In fact, last fall he watched him win 3 bouts in less than 10 minutes.Billy had promised Gonzalez that the job he had in mind would be simple.He told him they were just going to scare a woman and not hurt anyone at all.It was just as bad luck that Brian Maxwell had turned up when he did.They've looked at Brian and started to crack his knuckles.Then the lady inside the car “Now we talk”, he said.Catherine looked at him.He was so big that he made Brian look like a chicken.She was convinced that he would kill her best friend's husband.She made a decision. “Billy, leave him alone and I'll get back together with you”. She shouted in desperation.Billy stopped dead in his tracks. “Do you promise?” He asked warily. “Yes, but you must promise to let him go.This is nothing to do with him”, she said, thanking her lucky stars that Samantha had been too busy to witness such a sorry spectacle.“Let him go”, Billy laug
SUSPECTED“What's that?” He asked. “Why do you pretend to be a loser when you're so obviously not?” She asked.She realized that she was slightly envious of Samantha being married to such an amazing man, not that she ever intended to admit it.Brian saved her life more than once, and since her benefactor refused to say anything to his wife about his true abilities, she knew it wasn't her place to tell her either.Brian was surprised by the question.It wasn't something he thought about much.Not wanting to answer it, he changed the subject.“I need to get back”, he said as he got her suitcase out of the trunk.Samantha will kill me if dinner is not on the table when she gets home.Have a nice trip.Catherine stood on the sidewalk as she watched Brian's car drive away.As the car disappeared out of sight, she did not attempt to walk inside the terminal.She had no idea how long she stood staring into space, but it was an announcement calling passengers for her flight that intruded on her rev
ELATEDIt annoyed her that he was wasting his skills on low paying work.For the first time, she felt his lack of income was through his own laziness rather than an unfortunate absence of skill and intelligence.He opened his mouth but couldn't find any words to improve the situation.“Did you come up with this yourself?” She asked quietly.“No”, he replied impulsively.“Then how do you know so much about the workings of the company?” She asked.“I noticed some things from your notebook and paid attention when you told me about work, " he said, hoping it sounded like a decent explanation.“So you put this together from random scraps of information?” She asked.His heart raced as he tried to talk his way out of the corner he had backed himself into.“Plus, jeffery talks about business stuff with me a lot. He mentioned a method like this the other day, so I thought it could be applied here”.Relief filled Brian as Samantha's expression changed.She looks disappointed that he hadn't had a s
JAZZYShe offered her cell phone .The energy in the room buzzed with the implied intimacy between the two.They couldn't understand why Brian was being so cold toward her.Brian didn't accept the phone from her.If she wanted to send the photo to Samantha, she would have done it already, he thought.“No thanks, I'll take your word for it”, He said in a flat tone. “Great”. She said in a trippy voice. She stood up from her seat, proving the only reason she had joined the group was to talk to Brian.“You have my number.Don't forget to use it”, she said as she winked invitingly.Brian felt baffled as he watched her walk away.“When did we exchange numbers?” He wondered. He looked at Brandy’s retreating figure and saw her grab a cell phone from the bouncer.She turned toward Brian and waved the cell phone at him before disappearing.“She set me up”, he realized.Brian cursed under his breath.He stood up to follow and confront Brandy, only to have his path blocked by 5 young men that apparently
CAUGHT“Don't tell me that you haven't been listening to me talk this whole time”, she playfully admonished him.In reality, she had been patiently waiting for him to take himself off of mute.“How did you get my cell phone number?Why are you calling me?” He asked.The car speedometer steadily inched forward as concern for Liam filled Brian. He wanted to ask about Liam, but he didn't wanna risk exposing him if he hadn't been caught.“I already told you that I had your number, remember?”She reminded him smugly. “Speaking of that, did you know some guys tried to jump me at Raymond's Pub because of that?” He snapped.“But did I lie? Look, we have each other's numbers”, she said in a singsong voice.Brian realized it was pointless to argue with her, so he switched subjects.“So why did you call me?” He asked.“Security noticed the guy sneaking around my room.I recognized him from Raymond's Pub.I thought you might know him, but it sounds like you're busy. No big deal”, she said.“Who is it?
THE PICTURE Jeffrey and Jordan shook their heads. “Not sure it's really any of our business”, Jordan said. Liam rolled his eyes. “In that case, I guess I'll go return the phone. Stealing is wrong after all”, he said. Liam reached for the phone, but jeffery smacked his hand away. “Stop messing around”, jeffery snapped. “Let's just go through it together”, jeffery suggested.Nobody objected to his idea.Liam grabbed the phone, even though he was the most eager to go through it, he still felt nervous about what they might find.He tilted the screen toward his friends and swipe to unlock it. The four men simultaneously recoiled in surprise.The home wallpaper was a picture of Brandy and Brian eating together.Brian wasn't facing the camera, but Brandy had a MW smile. Based on her expression alone, they looked like a deeply in love couple dining together.It was no longer difficult to understand how some people could get the wrong impression. Brian's three friends all glanced at him cau
PRETENCEWhat was it?It's fine, she said, rolling her eyes.It turned out that being late had saved Brian from an argument.She had gotten so angry because he hadn't returned as she was ready to hit him.Though she calmed down by morning, she no longer felt the need to talk too much.A good night's sleep had put the problem into perspective.She realized she didn't need to discuss it, she only needed a little more time to solve it.Besides, Brian wouldn't know enough about what had happened that day to be of any help to her.“No, tell me, please”, said Brian.“OK”, she said reluctantly.“There were two things, actually.Firstly, Catherine told me she was going to be away for awhile and not to worry about it”.“OK”, said Brian carefully.Not sure what the problem was.“Surely it's normal to say that to your friend?I definitely say that to my friends.But she also told me that I should be nicer to you”, she continued, ignoring his reply.“Why do you think she would say that to me?”Brian was su