Dancing to the Truth (The Brent Trilogy 3)

Chapter 14

My house didn't look at all how I left it. I knew I needed to call Becky, but I didn't want to bother with it. I had left all of my stuff that I brought with me to Marcus's apartment, so I grabbed a few essentials from my room that I could barely find because Becky's appraisal people had tidied up even in my bedroom, and then I turned around, thinking of where I should go. It was Sunday, a day that I usually spent with Justin and Isabelle, but I had told Whitney that I was going to be in Austin this weekend so she wasn't expecting me, and I don't know if I had the courage to face her or the strength to spend the day with my children.

This is how I knew that Whitney was a much stronger person than I, and that what I did to her I was paying for tenfold now.

Karma is, indeed, a bitch.

But the thing I that scared me the most was that I felt like I deserved it. All of it. Marcus's and William's betrayal. Their sneaking around behind my back. Talking about me. Making out. Their intimacy, the familiarity they had with each other. How could I have been so fucking stupid?

I wondered if Marcus got a laugh when I was telling him everything about William, mocking me secretly, knowing that he was holding the knife so close to my back that I should've felt it, but I didn't know it was there until he stuck it in and then twisted it to shred my insides, make me bleed.

Tears rolled down my cheeks again. What if they decided to come and look for me in the house? If they realized that I've seen them, and they couldn't get ahold of me on their phones, they could've totally driven out here. It was still early, not even noon yet.

No, I couldn't stay here. I needed to get out.

I ran downstairs with a backpack full of necessities, as well as my work laptop, and I opened the door just to see Becky coming towards me with her briefcase, her high heels clacking on the concrete path leading to the front door.

"Brent, I didn't expect to see you here today," she said, looking shocked, as she stopped.

"I... came back early," I said, hoping that it wasn't too obvious that I was crying.

"Are-are you okay?"

Busted. Fuck. I blinked away the tears and I tried to compose myself.

"I'm fine, just... personal things."

Becky patted me on the forearm, and she blinked a few times too many. "I understand." I wasn't sure she did. "Change is always hard, but it is in moments of change that we realize just how resilient we truly are, don't you think?"

"I guess you're right."

"Well, the showings yesterday went great. That's why I'm back here, we have three more showings scheduled for today. I'm expecting to see some offers by the end of today. So, don't lose hope, you're in good hands."

"I never doubted you, Becky," I said and I tried to smile at her. I knew she had a slight crush on me, and she was just trying to be nice. "Thank you... for everything."

She patted my forearm again. "You should really be starting to look for a place of your own soon, y'know? We could close in the next few weeks, if my hunch is correct, and I'm usually right about things like these."

"I... I will definitely do that."

"I'll have my assistant send you some listings I have available that I think would be just perfect for you. If you want, he can even show you some of the places. I have to go now, but keep an eye out for an email, okay?"