Her Best Friend's Brother

HARMONY

I leaned back in the chair, clutching my glass of red as I stare down at my Kindle to read the new book series that Sawyer, my best friend, mentioned. I started to read when the front door burst open and look up to see Noah, Sawyer’s older brother, stumble in.

I watched him stumbled and muttered something under his breath by the door before closing it on someone or whoever he was out with. He leaned on the door for support before taking a deep breath and turning around until his eyes met mine. He jumped back and glared at me, which only made my lip tug up at the corner at how jumpy he was after he had a drink.

“Fuck, Harm,” he murmured, calling me the nickname he had called since I was six. “You need a bell or something for me to hear you.”

I glared back. This was typical Noah Vaughn. Reflecting everything back at me for being here.

“Well, if it’s not the jackass who—” I muttered, but Noah shook his head and cut me off. “Say nothing,” he said, making me frown as he continued while he slipped off his shoes. “I’m too drunk to even care.”

I said nothing, hating the fact those words he didn’t care hurt me slightly. Ever since I can remember, I liked him, but he made it clear he was never interested in me. I watched Noah as he navigated toward the stairs. “Where’s Sawyer?” he grumbled as he tried to put his foot on the first step but missed, causing him to stub his toe.

The corners of my lips pulled up into a smirk ad tried not to laugh at him as a slur of curse words leave his lips. His eyes move to me again as his eyebrows bunched together. “Don’t you dare laugh, Harm,” he gritted out, turning and walking to the nearby chair.

I watched his every move as the smirk on my lips disappeared, not liking the fact he was now going to annoy the crap out of me. He sat on the chair opposite me, while his head fell backward till he was resting on the top of the chair with his eyes shut.

Clearing my throat, I put my glass of wine beside me and stared at him ready to answer his question about his sister and my best friend. “Sawyer took another shift at the club,” I said, making him open his eyes and stare at me. “She should be home in an hour.”

Noah said nothing, just stared at me.

Feeling slightly weird with the silence, I pulled my legs up and placed them on the couch. I grabbed the fleece blanket from the top of the couch and moved it over my legs to cover them up from being exposed to him. “You should start wearing pants,” Noah blurted, making me tense at his words. “It’s too cold for shorts.”

My eyes darted to him and frowned. “That’s none of your business with what I wear,” I gritted, knowing this was going to be it for me being around him tonight.

“Why are you so drunk, anyway? And I thought you said you were staying at Issac’s house this evening.”

“He hooked up with someone,” he muttered and closed his eyes again while leaning back against the chair. “I wasn’t going to be the third wheel with him and his hook-up.”

“I thought you like that kind of thing,” I said but regretted saying it when Noah’s eyes flew open and met mine. “Really?” he said, moving up and staring at me. “Think that low of me, Harm.”

I shrugged. It was what I heard over the years about the guy his sexual encounters. Everyone who knew him, knew his taste in women and who he would go for.

“I go with what I see,” I muttered, getting back to him since his gaze was unsettling. “You used to bring loads of different girls home every weekend when we were younger. So, what’s changed?”

Noah said nothing while his eyes bore back into mine, but he quickly recovered. “Why are you still here?” he grunted, getting slightly aggravated. “I thought you were going on a date with your boyfriend?”

I stilled at the mere mention of the word boyfriend.

Sawyer hasn’t told him what the hell happened then.

Shaking my thoughts away, I played along. “He’s working,” I muttered, glancing at my Kindle. I needed to change the subject and walk away.

I moved my legs back down from the couch and moved the fleece blanket off my legs. Moving off the couch, I kept my Kindle close to me and stared at Noah while staring at him. “I’m going to bed,” I muttered suddenly. “Sawyer won’t be too long.”

There were no more words between Noah and me. I grabbed the glass of wine from the side and walked away from him, heading up to the room I was staying in.

As soon as I stepped inside the room, I closed the door, placing the glass of wine and kindle on the dresser. I walked away from the door. The desire to be lost in a book was now long gone. I sat on the bed and closed my eyes while I dropped back onto the bed and tried to collect my thoughts.

Noah bringing up my boyfriend. Well, I mean, now my ex-boyfriend was hard to swallow. I went out with Flynn for two years. Two years I would never get back. He was charming and everything I thought I was looking for, but it wasn’t.

Everyone loved Flynn, someone who was there for you and even enjoyed coming to special occasions with you, but after six months, he changed. He started to tell me who I should bother with and what to wear. I thought it was what boyfriends did, as he was my first proper boyfriend.

Things escalated when he would check my phone, either with who I was texting or talking too. I couldn’t speak to any boys or even be friends with them. If a boy looked at me or even paid attention, it would cause issues. He would always look at my phone, wanting to see everything. I had to even cancel my social media since he hated if anyone was reaching out. I felt trapped within my own relationship and life.

Flynn also caused problems within my job and showed up, making a scene which led to be getting fired since the CEO didn’t want any drama coming into the workplace, which was understandable.

One thing about Flynn was, he was never violent with me. It was all words and actions that got to me. Messaging men was a no, and skirts or anything short was against what he liked. Same with revealing tops. What I wore had to go through him.

The worst was he started to isolate me from everyone. The man knew how to cause shit between the people I loved, which also included my parents. He limited on what I could do or even say. If he didn’t like the way they were talking, he would pretend to me and state some facts to them. I sat by till it got out of hand and that was when I knew I had to leave.

I never told Sawyer this, but the night I left him and cried to her about what had gone between us, was the night I looked through his phone when a message popped up from a name, I knew all to well—Nikki. She was someone from his past that he told me I never had to worry about but the message she sent had me wanting to kill him for what he put me through.

There on the message was her in a lingerie set and a message underneath. “Let me know when you have left the bore and come over to here to fuck me like the other night.”

That was it for me, but I knew I had to wait and that’s what I did. I watched him like a hawk as he got out of the shower and straight to his phone. That was when I saw the glint in the cheating ass’s face. He was happy. But when he looked at me, he told me he had to go, something about his job and it was on the line. He typed something back and sent it. Then threw it onto the bed, while heading into the walk-in closet to dress.

Knowing I didn’t have time, I quickly looked at the reply since the light on the phone was on and caught it before it went out. His words made me sick with anger and hurt all at the same time. “Don’t worry about the fat bitch, babe. I have her wrapped around my finger. Dinner on her tonight like always since I took money out.”

Before I put the phone down, Nikki sent laughing emojis with a sentence with it. “Well at least she is good for something.”

Throwing the phone back on the bed, when I heard Flynn move again which meant he was coming back out. I stepped away and hurried into the shower. Closing the door, I didn’t hear anything and let everything that I felt rush out of me like a tidal wave.

That was when I knew I had to get out of there. The man tore me down, even causing conflict with my parents which meant they wouldn’t have been able to help me but there was one person who stuck it out with me and that was Sawyer, my best friend. She saw through the bullshit and even tried to help me, but whenever she did try it didn’t help the situation with Flynn. It became apparent I had to hide my relationship with her. But for me and her it was okay, I knew her number from heart and that night I rang her to tell her what happened to me, leaving out the Nikki and he was cheating since I didn’t want any sympathy from her.

After an hour of telling her everything, I got off the phone with Sawyer and it didn’t take me long to figure out what I was doing next, which was I was leaving Flynn that night. While she drove to get me, I packed up all I could at the time, and I have been living with her ever since.

My eyes opened as a lone tear escaped while staring up at the ceiling as I still processed everything. Moving back up to sit tidy, the only thing that came to mind was how quick I had packed my stuff up. That night I only took what I needed and left.

Flynn never texted me that night, so he didn’t know what I had gone and even came back to pack up my stuff before he got back home. Sawyer and I worked all through the morning, boxing up my stuff but she brought her beat up car with her which was too small for all the boxes, which meant I had to leave about four boxes behind.

And when Flynn found out I had move out, he shouted and demanded to come back home. I never exposed his cheating to him, that I knew what he did.

The money thing only started when we were moving in together, and ever since the mental fuck that Flynn put me through, I have been on edge. I was supposed to see him today to get the rest of my things, but the asshole didn’t bother showing up. Sawyer has been my rock through this and more.

When I moved in with her, she told me Noah occasionally crashed at her place, which I soon realised was all the time since he has stayed here ever since I have been there. Like the walking ticking time bomb he is, he doesn’t know what has been going on with me, and I want to keep it that way.

I let my body fall back onto the bed again and lay there, staring at the ceiling.

Sleep would come eventually, but I needed to clear my head from all the demons I had in there—mainly of Flynn. I hated the man and because of him, I was still trying to rebuild my life with my family and friends.

Isolation had made all of them distance themselves away from me. I know Flynn must have said some stuff to them, which would make it all look like it came from my mouth but if they ever knew me all that way, they would have noticed the difference. But I can’t dwell on the past now, I have to rebuild my life again and Sawyer mentioned I should tell my parents what happened, but I don’t want people pitying me.

I’m a grown-ass woman who can rebuild her life one day at a time. But first, I needed a job.