Bad Boy Crush "BWAM" (Book #1 of The Taylors Series)

Chapter 24: Too Close For Comfort

~Ten In his hometown with "Alesana" his brother~

Winwin and I haven't been on speaking terms ever since the blow-up scene with Charlotte yesterday. As a matter of fact, we haven't said two words to each other, and it wasn't because I haven't tried talking to him. He's just been avoiding me like I had the bubonic plague.

He would have one of the guys relay anything he wanted to say to me. I had to do the same thing because he refused to talk to me face to face. "There goes your brother, Ten," Lucas tells me as soon as we exited the airport with our luggage in our hands. I sent Brianna a message letting her know that I've made it to my hometown safely while walking towards Alesana.

"Hey, big brother." I greet Alesana before engulfing him into a brotherly hug.

"Hello, loudmouth." He replies.

"Hi, Mr. Wong." My friends said to him all at once.

"Why are you guys calling him Mr. Wong? He's not anyone important, and besides, you've known him about as long as you've known me." I reprimand them.

"Please don't pay this knucklehead no mind." I hear Alesana tell my friends before turning to me and asking, "where's the beautiful woman that you speak so highly of?"

"Damn, bro, you didn't have to blurt out my business like that in front of everyone."

"New flash to stupid, We already know that you're whipped for Ms. Brianna Taylor." Kun blurts out.

"Heck, we are too," Lucas says out loud.

"You better get your own woman, Lucas, because mine is off-limits." I sling at him, then say to Alesana, "Brianna had a family gathering to attend this weekend."

"Is everything alright with her family?" Alesana asked.

"Yeah, she's just spending time with her mom and sisters," I answered while placing my luggage in the trunk of the car. We rode to the house that Alesana was renovating to give to Zoey "his future bride" as a wedding gift. "You must really love this woman to be going to this length to make her happy," I stated after we walked into the massive two-story brick house.

"Yes, I do." He responded cheerfully.

"I thought that with our parents putting their happiness and needs above their kids doomed us to live a life of misery. I know now that I too have a chance of a happy life with the woman I love after hearing you openly confess how you feel about Zoey." I told my brother.

"Little brother, having the right woman come into your life makes a world of difference. You just have to be able to realize that she's the woman for you." Alesana tells me.

"Have I been drafted into a sappy love scene?" Lucas asked our friends.

"I was thinking the same damn thing, Lucas. Hell, I even feel like shedding a few tears." Hendery dramatically blurts out.

"Are we going to stand here listening to you two go on and on about the love of your lives, or are we going to get ready for our performance tonight?" Winwin bitterly spat.

"Is he alright?" Alesana asked me.

"He's just a bit pissed off with your brother for no reason," Yangyang interjected while glaring at Winwin.

"Oh, so finding out that my so-called best friend has stolen my woman away from me right under my damn nose isn't a good reason for me to be upset with him, huh?" Winwin barked at Yangyang.

"Zander, did you steal Brianna away from Winwin?" Alesana questioned me with confusion written all over his face.

"He's not talking about the beautiful Ms. Brianna, Mr. Wong. Winwin is talking about the sleazy tramp… I mean, a girl who has been using him to get close to Ten." Kun says while staring at Winwin.

"Zander, all I need to know is do you feel anything romantic for Winwin woman?"

"Hell Nah. First of all, I would never do that to any of my friends, and secondly, if you stood his woman besides my woman you wouldn't be asking me this absurd question." I sneered. Winwin, I promise you nothing of the sort has ever transpired between Charlotte and me.

"Ten, I don't care what you two do or don't do anymore." He tells me angrily.

"Big brother, I'm heading upstairs to get dressed," I say to Alesana with my head hung low after hearing Winwin's flippant response.

Two hours after hearing my brother pour his heart out to the woman he loves and hearing her accepting his proposal, I walked off the stage. I received a text message from a private at the exact moment everyone was leaving the café.

"She was mine first and will be mine again," the message read. Soon afterward, I received two photos of Brianna. The first one was of her spending time with her mom, siblings, and JJ at a fancy restaurant. The last photo caused my heart to ache immensely.

"Is this the real reason why she didn't want to come with me?" I asked myself while looking down at the photo of her sleeping on a king-size bed in an elegant room with her ex Ryan arm wrapped around her waist. His chin was nestled into the crook of her neck and his front was pressed firmly up against her backside.

"What's wrong Ten?" Kun asked me when I began to speed walk out of the café with my cellphone pressed to my ear. I didn't respond to his question because I wasn't even sure what was going on my damn self. "Ten, what in the fuck is wrong with you bro?" Kun asked again, but this time in a more serious tone.

"I'm not sure yet." I finally replied in between dialing Brianna's number. Each time, my call would go straight to voicemail. "Brianna, when you get this message, please call me," I speak into the phone as calmly as I can.

"Is there something wrong with Brianna?" Kun questioned me with a hard edge to his voice.

"No, it's nothing like that," I responded.

"Then what in the living daylight is going on then?" Lucas demands.

"I just got a disturbing message from a private number a few minutes ago," I tell my friends as they all huddled around me with a worried expressions on their faces.

"What did the message say?" Hendery probed.

"It's not what the message said, it's what the photos that were attached to it implied, Hendery. I prefer not to talk about it right now." I told my friends when they were about to ask me some more questions.

"Bro, I hope that you know that we're here for you whenever you want to talk about what is going with you," Xiaojun said to me.

"Don't even think about coming to me about whatever is ailing you because I don't give a shit…" Winwin was saying when Yangyang covered his mouth.

"I'll drive back to your brother's place, so you can concentrate on getting in touch with Brie." I barely hear Kun tell me. We all piled into Alesana black 2021 QX80 Infiniti. Kun was behind the steering wheel, and I was in the passenger seat. Xiaojun, Hendery, and Yangyang sat on the second seat while Winwin and Lucas were on the third-row seat.

Every time I called Brianna, the call went straight to voicemail. I gave up around the fifth time and just stared out of the window. I wasn't looking at anything in particular because my thoughts kept getting bombarded with visions of Brianna ex arm wrapped around her waist. These images were playing a cruel joke on my mind and emotions.

Just when I thought that things couldn't get any worse, my phone made a dinging noise letting me know that I had received another message. "What in the fuck is this shit?" I yelled out loud as I looked at the picture on my phone.

"What is it Ten?" All my friends asked in unison after my angry outburst and I  threw my phone into the center console of the truck.

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JJNiles...