Loving Ashlynn (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 33 - Blowing Up (Angela Conrad POV)

               

Chapter 33 – Blowing Up (Angela Conrad POV)

I had been expecting to find Devin in Faith's room.

Finding Taylor Rosario instead does not exactly quench my suspicions. As of yet I couldn't trace the intrusion, I found in Ansel's system, not without alarming the hacker but I could tell who it was.

Devin.

They were almost able to follow Devin's internal footprints, except for one place. That's all it took for me to know that someone had used Devin's backdoor hack into Ansel's system.

Still, now, what was Taylor doing here in Faith's bedroom? And I ask her as much, "Samson told me to look at their assignment, make sure Faith emailed it to our instructor," Taylor shrugs after the shocked, caught look is removed from her face.

Not ready to let it be known that Ansel and I were on to her sister. Playing everything close to the belt as we had decided, I just nod, "Oh well I was on my laptop in the basement... thought Faith was home, wanted to check on her." Standing, I wait to wonder what exactly Taylor was looking for on Faith's computer because I surely didn't believe she was sending in an assignment for Faith.

Not with everything Ansel had told me when it came to how Faith, Samson, and Taylor clashed.

Or moreover, Samson and Taylor.

Plus, heck, I had eyes and Samson only had them for Faith. While it was easy to see that Taylor had them for Samson.

We have a beat or two of awkward silence where I'm just staring at Taylor, her eyes similar to my Courtney, but not quite. She's waiting for me to leave but I'm in the same boat. But as this is my brother's house, that bit of confidence I have is greater.

Instead of leaving Faith's room, I go to the chair right outside of her room, sitting down and keeping a polite smile on my face as I look at Taylor. She glances at the computer screen, her body tight and tense. One hand closed, a fist at her side, I flick my gaze around the area though I'm only focusing on Taylor.

One second. Then another. Two. Three. Turns into five. Six.

Without touching the laptop on Faith's desk, Taylor walks past me briskly, bidding me goodnight and taking the stairs two at a time until I cannot see her. Resting back, I decide to wait for a few minutes, but when I stand, I see Brennan standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Knowing as much as I did, it was hard to keep the disappointment from my face but all weekend, he had walked around barely holding it together. I knew that.

I was him nearly eight years ago. Different reasons of course but, I knew emptiness and self-loathing when I saw it.

Waving him up, I sit back again.

In the quite night we sit together, listening to the house go quieter by the minute. "When you... was it hard to tell everyone? About you? You know?"

"My preference romantically?"

He nods. "There was fear that my parents would reject me, or disown me, turn the family against me... or-" I swallow thickly, remembering the dark times. "Or that I'd be alone... or worse that... I wasn't brave enough to be my authentic self," I answer honestly.

My heart utterly full now, the memories assaulting me still causes me pain.

"I spent the day with Devin..." Brennan whispers, angling himself, "and – I love her but... I don't think I can give up my family to be with her, protect her when she's..." his bottom lip shaking.