Every December [Soon to be Self Published]

Chapter 1

Austin

I hate December.

The gift-giving. The festive lights. The caroling that still goes on. All of it makes me impatient to get out of town. "Brielle, are you ready?" I snap, looking at my watch.

She turns to me, all 5'3 inches of her. Eyes packed with emotion and watery. She's been crying. Oh-no. This isn't the face of a woman ready to go on vacation. She sniffles with her head full of blonde hair falling over her shoulders. "Can we talk?"

I glance at her matching luggage. 'Can we talk?' is the last thing I'm expecting to hear. I'm not trying to think like a jerk but we're already late to the airport where a private jet is waiting for us. "Let's talk in the car. The driver's here."

She brings her light brown-eyed gaze to mine. "I just need five minutes. Then we can go."

Five minutes? I check the time on my phone and groan. What could she say now that can't wait? The longer I'm away from New Hampshire, the more anxious I become, especially since this is the first time I'm bringing anyone to my vacation house. I need everything to go smoothly... this trip will finally give her clarity as to why we've never spent a Christmas together. "We'll also have the entire plane ride to talk," I decide, opening the front door. Almost seven hours from LAX to MHT. Plenty of time.

Brielle casts a nervous glance at the door and shakes her head. More tears fall from her crystal brown eyes. She passes a balled tissue from one hand to the next. "It's going to come out so I wanted you to hear it from me first."

My back stiffens. One look at her and I know this won't be good. The stress is written all over her face. I'm one of the world's top ranked professional golfers, I'm used to my private life becoming public property, but now there's a knot growing in the pit of my stomach. Patient, though nervous, I drop my hands to my hips. "I'm listening."

"Hartley and I slept together."

I inhale abruptly inhaling too much air. "I'm sorry?" I ask frozen in disbelief, unable to tear my gaze away. "You slept with my caddy?"

More sniffles. She wipes her nose and her eyes. Instead of justifying or explaining, she stands there with her mistakes on display and empty apologies in her eyes. "I didn't mean-"

"Do not finish that sentence."

"The affair meant nothing," she pleads with the odd hint of defensiveness.

"Do you have any idea how you sound?"

"I know." She folds her arms loosely over her chest and averts her gaze. "I know."
"When's it coming out?" I demand coldly. The three of us have been friends. Good friends. Obviously, the two of them took that to a new level.

"I don't know. We were spotted...holding hands....kissing..." She dares to swing her gaze to mine.

Bitterness skates through me and rounds out my frustration in a bitter snap. "How could you?"

"Austin, please. Let me talk to you," she says loudly like a small child and lowers her voice to a whimper. "Let me just tell you why."

"I don't think so." In fact, I know so. No more of this, of her. She slept. With Hartley. I take a step closer, aware of how close I had come to thinking about where we might be headed. "Why him?"

She sniffles and grabs for my arm. "Just listen."

"Brielle? Answer me." Anger rises like a thick cloud through me, turning everything dark inside of me. "You pick the one friend I have in this business."