Torn Between The Carter Brothers

Chapter 84

Addison

“What's stopping you from accepting the job?” Gregg asked as he regardedfrom across his cup of coffee. We

had both decided to meet up at a small coffee shop right after he went to drop his kids off at school. | had

explained in vague details about how | ended up hearing Zane out and he ended up askingto bechis

assistant but | was still skeptical about accepting it.

| heaved a soft sigh. “I- | don’t know...” | mumbled as | trailed off while glancing down at my cold pancakes. |

wasn't sure if | could tell Gregg the truth, that | was scared that should I accept this job, I'll only grow more

attracted to him and should he make a move on me, I'll be unable to resist him. The thought of that alone was

making my head spin while my heartbeat accelerated. And aside from that, there was also another problem.

Marco would never letwork as Zane’s assistant no matter what, and | was unsure of how I'd navigate that.

“Is this because you're attracted to him?” Gregg asked just as | began to dip on my orange juice and | ended up

choking on it while coughing hard. He arched a brow atas | slowly calmed down, then he leaned forward as

he rolled his eyes.

“What? You think I didn’t notice?” He demanded and | was too stunned to speak. Granted | had a feeling he had

a little idea, but I didn’t expect him to lay it out onlike this.

| cleared my throat and began to speak. “I'm not...”

He cutoff with a wave of his head. “There’s no use denying it, Addi. It was quite obvious two nights ago at

my house.” He drawled before leaning back in his seat and clicked his tongue and I felt my cheeks colored a

little.

“The tension between you two back there was so thick, | could almost smell it in the air.” He added as a grin

tugged at his lips and my face flamed again, my heart still beating fast. | stared over at Gregg's face, gauging

his reaction right now. | wasn’t sure he had figured out that we had both fucked and i guess that was a very good

thing, cause | was certain he wouldn't be smiling right now if he knew.

“You're not mad?” | asked tentatively as | pushed my food around on my plate.

“Honestly? Not really. Zane is easy to develop a crush on, I've witnessed it happen a bunch of times after all.” He

drawled as he chuckled a little and | was certain he wasn’t lying cause that both attended school together.

“However, | wasn’t sure I've ever witnessed a situation whereby he seemed to be entranced by the girl as well.”

He commented as he sipped his coffee again and | felt my heart jump in my throat as my eyes widened a little.

“You're probably mistaken.” | ended up telling him while | tried to still my racing heart. Zane was entranced by

me? That was the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week.

“I'm serious, Addi. You didn’t see the way he looked at you when you weren't looking. It was... intense.” He

pointed out and | rolled my eyes a little.

That was just because he wanted to fuckagain. It wasn’t because he was entranced or something, he was

just horny, that was it.

| didn’t bother saying that to Gregg cause he mustn't know that happened after all.

“To be honest, I'm surprised that you're pretty chill about this. Didn't you warnagainst him while we were

about to travel to Italy?” | asked as 1 frowned a little in confusion.

“Oh, that's because | was really looking out for you. Zane is someone who I've known to be immune to emotions

since | could remember, and he barely took a girl to bed twice. | didn’t want you to experience something like

that for your first tcause you'd undoubtedly get your heart broken since he’s just so charming and easy to

fall for, and we all know intimacy and close proximity breeds feelings quite easily.” He explained and | nodded

slowly even though | was confused as hell.

“So does this mean you're no longer worried about all of that? Cause you aren’t askingto let go of this

supposed crush which you claimed to have noticed.” | continued and he laughed a little at the way | worded the

sentence. And that was cause he was wrong, | have no crush on Zane.

“I'm definitely still worried, to be honest. But it sounded like you've becquite adventures during that trip,

cause after all you had sex over there with a stranger. So, | figured that means you're now more adventurous.

This means that even though | might like to protect you, | can’t stop you from doing what you want. And that

includes having a little fun with Zane if that’s what you want. And the only reason I'm not fully against it is

because | saw the way he looked at you too.”

| posed my lips as | turned his words around in my chest then | huffed a little.

“You're advisingto basically fuck him if | want to... even though I'm now in a relationship with Marco?” |

asked, feeling glad that at least | didn’t have to hide that I'm dating Marco from my best friend anymore.

Gregg snorted as he rolled his eyes. “And what if | am? | still don’t think that man deserves you, so... if you

wanna have fun with someone else, go ahead and do it without hesitation!”

| might have laughed if this was a different situation. This was basically how Zane didn’t give two fucks over ms

having a boyfriend. Neither of them clearly took the fact that | have a boyfriend seriously and I didn’t know

whether to be angry or not.

“Stop overthinking. Didn't he cheat on you back then? What's the assurance that he’s not cheating on you again

presently?” He demanded and | let out a low sigh as | pushed my hair out of my face.

“You're impossible.” | finally informed him but he only grinned like | just complimented him.

“So, will you accept the job?” He asked again and | huffed as | turned the question around in my mind again

before shrugging.

“I honestly don’t know yet.” | responded as | suffered softly. Zane has askedto unfailingly turn in my

response to him today, but | was still conflicted as hell.

“Why? Because of your attraction to him?” He asked and when | still remained silent, he leaned forward and

continued. “This might be a blessing in disguise. If you start working for him, the two of you could end up having

something together, then you'll finally get over that useless Marco-"

| sighed and cut him off. “Stop, Gregg.”

He rolled his eyes as he flopped in his chair again. “Just, think about it. Don’t let this slip you by.” He urged me

but | pursed my lips and just remained silent while my head pounded with a headache.

65 Vouchers

| stared down at my mother who was still asleep. After breakfast with Gregg, | went hto shower, then |

decided to go visit my mom in the hospital she has spent about two years in. She has lost more weight than |

remember, clearly the cancer was worsening even more. For her to get the exact treatment she needed, we'd be

needing a lot of money with my siblings and I. | reached down to stroke her wrinkly face, my heart squeezing

tight in my chest.

| suddenly felt selfish to still be contemplating refusing Zane’s job offer when | have a sick mother who needs all

the money | could make as fast as possible.

“Addison?” Her soft voice pulledback to the present and | smiled down at her, my cheeks straining because

my eyes were already welling with tears.

“Hi mom,” | whispered throatily.

Her eyes widened in confusion, then she tuggeddown with her weakened hand and heldas | cried

against her chest till | felt extremity wrung out. Her hands kept patting on my back as she consoledwith soft

words till | finally stopped crying and was able to sit up again.

“How are you, mom?” | asked and she sighed while glancing around her bleak looking room a little.

“I'm alright dear, | promise. So stop worrying or feeling guilty, okay?” She spoke softly in a way that made my

heart ache again. She knewall too well, and guilt was still settled heavily in my chest. As | kept staring at

her, | got filled with determination. | was going to accept to work as his assistant just for the sake of my mother.

She needs money for surgery urgently and this is the perfect opportunity for that to happen. | couldn't believe |

didn’t accept the offer instantly as soon as he informedof the salary he’d be paying me.

| helped my mother into a sitting position, then we talked about a bunch of things. I tried to catch her up on my

life and | added a lot of lies to the entire thing cause my life was bland as hell but she didn’t need to know that.

“What about your love life, dear? Anyone | should meet yet, or are you still hung over that horrible Marco?” She

asked and | coughed awkwardly before shaking my head. |

| was still completely unsure of how I'll ever tell my mother and siblings that | was now with Marco again, cause |

was certain they'd never be able to understand no matter what.

“Of course not, mom. No love foryet.”

She regardedsympathetically before holding my hand in hers. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. A pure hearted love

would cyour way soon and it would be unlike anything you could ever imagine.” She gushed and | forced a

smile on while nodding.

“It’s good that you've finally gotten over Marco then. Perhaps attending his wedding was what you truly needed.

Although you don’t seem that happy though. What's wrong?” She asked and my heartbeat accelerated while

guilt ettled withinfrom lying to her right now.

“I- I'm not sad, mom, just stressed out, that’s all.”

After we spoke for a bit longer, | hugged and bid her goodbye, promising to cagain in a few days.

“You'll soon get all the treatments you need, mom. | promise.” | murmured quietly as we hugged and she only

huggedtighter and urgedto not pressure myself and that was fine, but | knew better than to believe

Chapter 84

her words since she was clearly just avoiding pressuring me.