"I can't believe you're leaving, Bella." Logan sighs as we both sit behind the counter at the shelter. "What the hell am I supposed to do here without you?"
I just put in my two weeks notice. In two weeks, I will be leaving my job at the animal shelter and starting my new job as Sarah Winston's nanny. Bryan got back to me fairly quickly about the position, saying that it was mine if I wanted it. And as uncertain as I was about it, I took it.
I love my job here at the shelter, but it doesn't pay nearly enough. Bryan is offering me more than double what I make now. I'd be stupid not to take it. Harry told me to do what I want and not to worry about the money, but just because I'm moving in with him doesn't mean that I'm not going to be paying for things.
"You'll have Stacey." I remind Logan, not wanting to dwell on a decision that I've already made.
"Great." He says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Do you have any plans tonight?"
"Just moving more of my crap to Harry's apartment." That job is seriously taking longer than I anticipated. Apparently, I have much more stuff than I thought I did. There are only a few boxes left, and I'm hoping to be officially moved in with Harry by this weekend.
"Well, how about you take a break from that and let me take you out."
"Out?" I frown.
"To celebrate."
"Celebrate what?"
"Your last days here at the old shelter. I don't want you to forget about me when you're living it up in that CEO's mansion." He teases, and I laugh. "I'm serious, Bella. I'm super happy for you, but I'm also gonna miss you."
"I'm gonna miss you too, Logan." I tell him honestly.
"So, what do you say? Wanna go out tonight?" He asks, nudging my elbow with his own.
I take a breath before nodding. "Sure. Why not?"
"Sweet, let's go." He hops up from behind the counter, and I frown.
"Wait, right now?"
"Of course."
"But we're working. We don't close for another hour."
"So?" He smirks at me. "You've left work early before, why start following the rules now?"
I look at him for a second, thinking. He's right. I'm surprised I haven't been fired from this job. I leave early every chance I can get. That's mostly because I really don't think people are in the mood to adopt pets after dinner time, but still.
"Okay, fine." I sigh, giving in and standing to my feet.
A few minutes later, Logan and I pull up in front of a bar downtown. He convinced me to close up early, and then told me to get in my car and follow him, so I did.
Now the two of us are sitting in a booth with a table full of half-eaten appetizers, talking and laughing about everything that has happened during our time working together.
"And let's not forget the time that your boyfriend told me to fuck off and called me dick." He teases, sticking a french fry in his mouth.
"To be fair, he wasn't my boyfriend at that point." I laugh as my fingers twirl the straw around my glass of water.
"True." He nods, leaning back in his seat. "God, that feels like ages ago, doesn't it?"
"It does."
"So much has changed. I mean, you and Harry are moving in together." He says in astonishment, and I smile.
"I know. It's crazy."
"I'm sorry for saying all that stupid shit to you at the beginning about being careful with him. It's pretty clear now that he cares about you...and you care about him." I nod as he speaks sincerely. "I'm happy for you guys, Bella."
"Thank you." I say before sipping the remains of my water.
"Here, let me grab another one of those for you." Logan reaches over and grabs my cup before taking his and mine over to the bar for refills.
My eyes follow him before catching on someone sitting alone at the bar. He's hunched over with at least five empty glasses in front of him. He's clearly not having a very good night.
When he lifts his head to ask the bartender for another drink, I get a better glimpse of his face. Confusion runs through my body when I recognize him. Will.
Why would Harry's brother be at this bar? He doesn't live anywhere near here.
"Sir, I think I'm gonna have to cut you off. Maybe find you a ride home." I overhear the bartender say quietly to Will.
"I just need...one more." Will slurs as he stumbles to his feet and leans across the bar for the bottle of vodka. The bartender quickly catches his wrist, which upsets Will. He shoves the bartender away and straightens himself out. "Don't put your fucking hands on me."
"Alright, man, you need to calm down and get out of here." The bartender tries again, keeping his voice calm.
"And you need to pour me another fucking drink." Will growls, and I find myself standing up quickly as he takes a step around the corner of the bar to confront the man.
"That's it. I'm calling the cops." The bartender reaches for his phone, but Will knocks it out of his hand, letting it fall to the ground.
"Will." A voice shouts, causing him to spin around to see who called his name.
It takes me a moment to realize that it was me. I'm the one that called his name. I don't know why I did, but I did.
"Do you know him?" The bartender calls to me, and I see Logan making his way back over to our table with the drinks. He seems to be confused as he tries to figure out what's going on. Everyone else in the bar is doing the same thing as they stare at us.
"Uh...yeah...I do." I answer unsurely.
"Then why don't you get him the hell out of here before I call the police."
I look back and forth between the man and Will before walking over to him and grabbing Will by the arm. His drunken state makes him easy to pull as I mumble an apology to the bartender and start heading towards the door. I'm thankful when the people in the bar finally refocus their attention back into whatever they were enveloped in before.
"Bella." Logan calls. I see that he set the drinks down on our table before hurrying towards me. "What's going on?"
When he finally catches up to me, I'm standing at the exit, trying to support Will's weight as he staggers slightly.
"Who the hell is this?" Logan asks me.
"It's, uh...Harry's brother." I inform him. I'm not sure if Harry wants people to know about Will, but at this point, that won't be the thing that pisses Harry off tonight. It's going to be the fact that in ten minutes, I'll be pulling into his parking garage with his brother.
"Harry's brother?"
"Yeah. I have to take him home." I say quickly, not wanting to linger here to explain everything to Logan. "I'm so sorry. Thank you so much for all of this, but I have to go."
"Sure, okay." He nods, clearly still trying to figure this out. "I'll see you around."
"Yeah, I'll see you." I assure him with a smile before opening the door and dragging Will out to my car.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asks me drunkenly as I pull out of the parking lot.
"Gee, I don't know. Saving you from getting arrested." I snap, annoyed that he ruined a nice night with a friend. "What are you doing here, Will?"
"I thought it was pretty clear at the bar." He says with a chuckle. "I was getting hammered."
"Why?"
"Sometimes that's all you can do." He answers vaguely, leaning back into the seat.
This is bad. This is going to end so badly. But what choice do I have? I couldn't just leave him there. There's clearly something wrong, and I just hope that Harry will be able to understand that.
HARRY
I finally did it. I finally got my closet cleaned out so that there is plenty of room in it for Bella's things. It turns out I had a lot of clothes that I've never worn before, and they were just taking up space. Now she can finally unpack the suitcase that's been sitting in the corner for the past week.
I just can't wait for this whole moving process to be over so that she can officially be moved in with me. I know that most things won't change because we spend every day and night together anyway, but I want nothing more than for her to be able to call this place home.
The doorknob on the front door rattles loudly, indicating that she's home. That sound makes me smile, which is surprising.
I never liked the idea of sharing my space with someone else. But as usual, Bella is my exception.
I close the closet in the bedroom and hurry down the hallway to greet her at the door. When I come around the corner, the smile on my face disappears quickly.
Instead of Bella, Will is standing in front of me with a sloppy grin plastered to his face. He tries to take a step forward, but his knees wobble and he has to grab onto the wall next to him for support. I glance behind him to see Bella stepping into the house, shutting the door with a shy expression.
"Hey, brother." Will slurs, and I immediately conclude that he's hammered.
"What's going on?" I ask, trying to keep my voice as calm as I can. When Will does nothing more than smile at me, my eyes move to the person standing behind him as I repeat the question. "What is going on?"
"I found him at the bar." She answers softly.
"What were you doing at a bar?" I frown. She had told me that her and Logan were going to grab some food, which I was surprisingly okay with, but she mentioned nothing about a bar.
"He was getting into a fight with the bartender, Harry. I couldn't just leave him there." She interrupts me, not answering my question. As she speaks, Will makes his way over to the living room and plops down on the couch. "I didn't know where else to take him, so I figured I'd bring him here."
"And why couldn't you just leave him there?"
"Harry." She scolds, taking a step closer and lowering her voice. "The bartender was about to call the police. I think there's something seriously wrong with him."
"Yeah, he's an alcoholic. Guess what. It runs in our family." I snap out of frustration. I don't like the fact that Bella took pity on him simply because he chose to drown himself in a bottle.
"Okay, maybe you're right. But why is he here?" She asks me, and I frown.
"Because you brought him here."
"No, I mean, why is here? Why is he in town? He doesn't live anywhere near here." She clarifies, but I shake my head at her.
"I don't know, and I don't care, Bella. He's not my problem."
"But he's your brother."
"That doesn't make him my problem."
"Oh, would you two shut up already." Will groans from the couch where he's now laying on his stomach. "If I wanted to hear more nagging, I'd go back to her place."
"You know what, you can leave whenever you want—" I start, turning towards him and pointing my finger at him, but Bella stops me.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" She asks, looking at Will. "You'd go back to who's place."
I look at Bella, wondering why she's being so nosy about Will's life, but when I see her forehead creased in concentration, I realize that she's thinking about something. She's trying to figure something out.
"After she told me, we got into a...huge fight." Will's words are interrupted by a hiccup, and I roll my eyes.
"Okay, why the fuck do you care about whatever he's rambling about?" I ask Bella, ignoring my brother and turning back to her.
"Because, if we can figure out who he's talking about, maybe we can figure out why he's here and what's wrong with him."
"He's probably talking about a girl that he hooked up with, and that's probably why he's in town. And you wanna know what's wrong with him? He's a pathetic alcoholic asshole that's going nowhere in life. That's why you found him wasted at a bar, and that's why he's lying face down on our couch." I explain to her, and she crosses her arms over her chest, clearly annoyed that I don't care about this as much as she does.
I do have to admit that I like the way the word 'our' rolled so easily off of my tongue. I will definitely be able to get used to that once Bella officially moves in with me.
"I mean, what did she expect from me?" Will's drunken voice creeps back into my head, and I refocus on the conversation in front of me. "How was I supposed to react after I found out that I'm a father?"
"What?" Bella and I both ask in simultaneous disbelief.
"When she called and asked me to come over, I had no idea that that's what was gonna happen." He continues to ramble, so I cut him off.
"Will." I snap gruffly, causing him to look up at me from the couch. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
He stares at me for a moment before letting out a small laugh. Why is any of this funny? A man who has never had a long-term relationship in his entire life. A man that could barely keep a gold fish alive when we were kids. A man who still looks for solutions at the bottom of a bottle just found out that he's a father.
I know what that's like because that was me five years ago, but it sure as hell wasn't funny.
"I hadn't talked to her in years, especially after what happened. So when she said she needed to talk, I figured it had to be something big." Will speaks again, sounding slightly more sober than before. I hope he's finally realizing how serious this is.
"Who is she?" I ask, but he laughs again.
"You don't wanna know, man."
"Well, what is she gonna do with the baby? Is she gonna keep it?" Bella asks as politely as she can. She clearly has a lot of things that she's refraining from saying right now. So do I.
"Oh, she kept it all right." He nods, and Bella and I both frown. "She's had it for five fucking years."
With those words, I swear my heart stops beating.
"Who is she?" I ask again, this time raising my voice significantly. Bella doesn't seem to notice as she keeps talking to Will.
"Wait, she's had it for five years, and she's just now telling you—"
"Who is she?" I shout, quickly gaining the attention of everyone in the room.
I see Bella jump slightly out of the corner of my eye, but I keep my eyes locked on Will. His dumbfounded expression turns to a smirk when he sees how angry I've become.
"You know who it is." He lowers his voice, and that's all it takes for me to step towards him.
Bella's hand wraps around my arm in an attempt to stop me, but I harshly shake her off. In one quick motion, I grab Will by the collar of his shirt and pull him up, pinning him against the wall.
"I wanna know what the fuck is going on, right now." I demand.
"Why do you care so much, huh?" He taunts me. "You already knew that I slept with her."
"Tell me what's going on." I repeat.
"Harry." Bella says quietly from behind me. I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's starting to put the pieces together. The pieces that I've been putting together since Will stumbled through my front door.
"I slept with Victoria one time...five years ago...condom must've broke." Will chokes out breathlessly as I push him harder against the wall. "Turns out I have a daughter."
With those words, he confirms my suspicions and my heart breaks as my hands fall from his shirt, releasing him to the ground where he lands in a pile.
***Author's Note***
Things are heating up! Please comment and vote!!
~Haley