Brett looks at me and shrugs. “I assumed you told him.”
I didn’t. I knew better than to tell Daniel Brett was calling me after he had voiced his concerns about my relationship with him. Had he been checking my phone?
“Okay. Maybe I did,” I lie, not comfortable sharing my suspicions with Brett. “Did he say anything else?” I look out the window to watch a couple sitting idly on a wooden bench, sharing a coffee and a few moments together.
“Just that you weren’t coming back and it would be in my own best interests to forget you existed.”
Brett is watching me more carefully now. “God only knows what that meant, but he seemed pretty angry. I figured it was what you wanted so I let it go.”
He takes a slow sip of coffee, a clear invitation for me to fill in some gaps for him.
I let out a resigned sigh. “He pretty much offered me an ultimatum. Drop out of uni or he would break up with me.”
Brett scoffs. “That should have been an easy decision, Gia.”
“The worst part is, it was.” I glance away. “We got married a year later.”
Brett’s eyes widen and his gaze flicks down to my ring finger. I let out a dark laugh.
“Separated. Took me way too long to figure it out, though.”
There’s a long stretch of silence between us as we both sit and process the new information. Between bursts of anger directed at Daniel for interfering and controlling my life so thoroughly behind my back, I wonder what Brettthought of me after Daniel’s visit. What he thinks of me now. Back then, we were good friends. We hit it off the moment we first sat next to each other in that lecture theatre and were inseparable at uni for the two years after. There was an ease with him that I’ve only ever found with Anna. No pressure, no romantic connotations, just friendship.
“Why did he ask that of you? To give up your studies?” The way Brett’s gaze softens, I think he already knows the answer.
“Daniel was -” I look back out the window, a blush creeping back over my cheeks, “jealous. Possessive, if I’m being honest. He thought you, er,likedme.”
At this point, my cheeks are at extremely high risk of bursting into flames. “I told him he was ridiculous, but -”
“He wasn’t ridiculous,” Brett interrupts me, and I look over to find him biting his bottom lip between his teeth. “Well, he was absolutely ridiculous, and fucking psychotic really to make you drop out of uni because of it, but he was right. I did fancy you.”
For the second time today, my chin falls to the floor. “What?”
“What?” Brett says, looking sheepish. “You were, and still are, the hottest chick I’ve ever laid eyes on.” There’s a mischievous glint to his eyes as my cheeks literally reach boiling point. “I told you that all the time.” Then he shrugs and takes another sip of his coffee.
“I thought you were just messing around!”
“I was. I never would have come onto you. I knew you had a boyfriend. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t true.”
I blow out a breath. “This seems wildly inappropriate now I’m your student!” I rest the back of my cold knuckles against my cheeks in an attempt to cool them down. Brett always told me I looked beautiful, or that my ass lookedgood in whatever outfit I was wearing that day. I thought it was just a part of his cheeky personality. I never suspected a crush! There was never sexual tension or anything evident between us. Well there wasn’t on my end, anyway.
“Relax. I’m not grading any of your work so it’s fine,” he laughs. “No conflict of interest.”
His words sober me right up. The same words I said to Zayn in his office barely two weeks ago.Zayn.
I check my watch. This morning distracted me from thinking about Zayn for approximately… two whole hours.
I’ll take it.
Brett and I make light-hearted chat over the next half hour about his role in a high-end marketing firm that he landed straight out of uni, how he was offered a teaching position here two mornings a week, and some of the campaigns he’s worked on. As he talks, my mind flicks between listening to Brett and unwittingly comparing the man before me to the dark, captivating enigma that is Zayn. Would Zayn have taken Daniel’s threats laying down like Brett did? I can’t believe I didn’t realise Brett had a crush on me all those years ago. Does he have a girlfriend now? A wife? I should ask, but it seems a bit forward after his confession. I don’t want to give him the wrong impression, especially when I’m not looking to see anyone any time soon.
Brett would be the perfect boyfriend, if I allowed myself to think about it. He’s kind. Smart. Funny. Attractive. Even now as I watch him, he smiles and his face radiates such warmth and comfort. I just know he would never set out to hurt anyone. Someone I would be well-suited to in the far off future when I’m ready to date again.
But I can’t even finish that thought without Zayn’s face taking over every facet of my brain. Even the memory ofhim feels like someone’s applied shock pads to my chest and ramped them up to the highest voltage. I don’t think anyone else in this world could force my body to react in the way it does to him. An equally devastating and comforting thought. At least I know it’s only him I have to avoid at all costs if I have even the slightest shred of self-preservation.
“I could help you out with that,” Brett shrugs casually after I finish telling him about my fundraiser for Hope House. “Sounds like a great cause. I have lots of contacts I can reach out to.”
“Really?” I ask, sitting up a bit straighter in my chair.
