Read Online Pieces of Us by Hannah Downing - Free Book Online

Ryan coming into the room.
    “How are you, Charlotte?” Ryan asked. His eyes were glassy, and I frowned when he opened the fridge and helped himself to another beer. I didn’t remember Ryan ever being a drinker, but so far today I’d seen him down at least six bottles.
    “I’m good, Ry, really good.” I turned off the water and leaned back on the sink.
    “You look good…happy,” he said hesitantly.
    I nodded and folded my arms protectively over my chest. “How are you?”
    A big smile spread over his face, and he looked just like the young, playful Ryan I remembered.
    “Sarah’s pregnant with our first.”
    All the tension I was feeling disappeared, and I pulled the man I’d always considered a brother into my arms and hugged him as hard as I could. “Congratulations!”
    He gave me the killer Harper smile in return, and I stepped back a little, feeling as if I’d been hit in the chest. I turned my back for a moment and closed my eyes so I could regain my composure.
    I pictured Owen and reminded myself that I was fine, that I was loved. Slowly, when my breathing returned to normal and I began to feel a little more in control, I turned back to see Ryan staring at me, a look of concern on his face.
    “Charlotte, what really happened back then?” he asked, sitting in one of the dining chairs and kicking out the one opposite him for me.
    “He didn’t tell you?” I asked as I sat down.
    “He gave us excuses — his side of it. I want to know what happened from you.”
    The look in his eyes was so intense and sincere that even though I never talked about it, never even thought about it if I could avoid doing so, I found myself telling him everything.
    I explained how I’d found the text message on Christmas Eve and how much pain I’d been in during that last family Christmas. I described how hard it had been for me to move everything I owned out of our home while he was at his parent’s house. I talked about seeing him and Lucy together at the grocery store and our last words in the parking lot. I recounted packing up and moving to Boston in only a few days, and then how I’d met Owen and slowly put my life back together.
    I watched a darkness descend on Ryan’s face as he heard about the way I left, and his expression didn’t clear as I talked about Owen. If anything, it became even darker.
    “Do you love Owen?” Ryan asked — the first words he’d spoken since I started talking.
    “Very much,” I said with a smile.
    I didn’t know how to express to Ryan that Owen had fixed me, had made me whole again and brought me back to life. I didn’t think someone who’d never had his heart broken in that way could really understand what it was like to piece yourself back together after being shattered. Ryan would never understand the internal battle I’d waged about whether I could allow myself to feel loved again or just keep myself safe behind my emotionless wall.
    “But you still love Cam,” Ryan stated firmly, not leaving any room for the alternative.
    I cringed at the sound of his name. I tried to say it — and think it — as little as possible. I hesitated for a moment. I’d gone over this in my head many times, and I could honestly say I didn’t think I was still in love with him. I cared about him as a part of my history, but that was all I allowed myself to feel for him now.
    “No, my feelings for Cam…for him are in the past. It’s ancient history,” I said firmly, but my hands were shaking, and I wasn’t sure if he believed me.
    “Okay.”
    I was grateful he wasn’t going to push the issue.
    We sat in silence for a moment, both of us staring into space until Ryan let out a loud laugh and banged his fist on the table, making me jump.
    “What is it?” I asked, eyes wide.
    “Bonnie’s going to kill you!” he practically shouted.
    “Why?”
    “She’s been furious at you for five years because you wouldn’t talk to her after you split from Cam, and then you left without saying