The Men Next Door

Ch 14 - Brooks

It had been nearly a week since I'd seen Cam when I heard her and Luca giggling in the hallway. I was transported back to the first day we met, when he was showing her around my place without me, only this time, I couldn't keep the jealousy at bay.

It was stupid, of course. Feeling like she was mine. Feeling like he'd found someone more fun to spend his time with. It's what I'd told both of them to do. What I'd agreed to.

But how could they exist like that—with no fears, no concerns—when she was one shaky breath away from crying her eyes out with me?

As curious as I was, I knew I shouldn't ask either of them questions that I didn't want to know the answer to. It wasn't my business, whatever they did in their alone time. They could grab dinner or go to the moon, and it would all be the same to me.

And if I did get left behind, well...maybe I was better off that way, anyway.

Because Campbell was dangerous for my heart.

If her reaction after our night together was anything to judge by, she was a runner. Someone who couldn't sit with their feelings long enough to work through the pain and come out on the other side. And that lined up with her reasons for moving to the city, too.

Was I going to become another thing she got bored of? Another thing to close the door on when the rush of newness wore off?

And did it matter, or was this all just a bit of fun to her?

That's what it could've been. What it should've been, you might say, especially when things were so fresh and there was so much standing in our way. But I was tired of short-lived city flings, and I knew I wanted something more meaningful in my future, whether it was with her or someone else.

So when the next week came to a close and the only clarity I'd gotten was a handful of flirty texts from Cam and an awkward pizza night with Luca, I decided to send an SOS to the most level-headed man I knew. If I didn't, I was going to keep thinking myself in circles until the sun came up, trying to find some way to control a situation that had already slipped out of my hands.

And I only had a few minutes left to catch him before he disappeared for his usual days off.

The second I exited the stairwell, slightly out of breath from taking the steps two at a time, I saw the doorman dropping his name tag into a filing cabinet and delicately turning a key to lock the drawer. "Jenkins!" I called out when he made a move for his snazzy leather briefcase. "Do you have a minute?"

He glanced at me, nodded, then did a double take at the apparent distress on my face. "What's wrong, son?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed with concern as I approached the front desk.

I gestured him over to the seats near the fireplace in the lobby, then spent the next half hour spilling just about everything apart from the cup of black coffee he insisted on brewing for the occasion.

"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked, taking a sip. "I barely know her, but I can't stop thinking about her. I'm scared she's going to hurt me, but I'd rather get hurt than let Luca have her. And on top of it all, I can't lose Luca over a woman we've known for what? A month now?" I sat the cup down and pressed the base of my hands across my brow bones. "I feel like I'm losing my damn mind."

"Time isn't always the best measure of reality," Jenkins said, looking at me solemnly. "She means something to you. Clearly. You wouldn't be putting this much thought into it if she didn't. And I know you're always stuck in that head of yours, thinking through every detail, every scenario, every potential twist...but you'll always find an imperfection if you look hard enough. Sometimes you need to let your heart take the lead."