Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 142

142- Shampoo and spending

I keep myself angled to the wall, my back to Bellamy. Okay so showering in underwear might be a littleweird, but it lets me feel a little less exposed while still attempting to be brave. Not that I’m particularlyaiming for anything intimate right now. Nope, not at all. I feel dreadful and miserable. But I want to beclean and I want Bellamy with me. Okay, maybe I also want a distraction. Nervous and overly selfconscious might not be the best feeling, but it’s better than the alternative. Bellamy seems kind ofspeechless, which is funny since he was the one who started trying to undress me in the first place. Iglance back over my shoulder and replace that he is staring a hole through my back.

“Uh, Bellamy?” I ask hoarsely. Turns out vomiting is hell on your throat. Actually my mouth tastes awful.

“I’m not totally sure what I’m supposed to be doing. Well, I don’t know what you want.” He admits.

“Well, right this second, I’d like you to pass me the mouthwash.” I answer, partly because, well… I wantthe mouthwash, and partially because I’m stalling. I reach out blindly behind me and Bellamy placesthe bottle of mouthwash in my hand. I almost drop it, plastic bottle. plus water equals klutziness. Thespearmint liquid somehow burns and cools my mouth at the same time as I rinse it out. I catch a littlewater from the shower in my hands and rinse the

overly strong mouthwash from my mouth. Seriously, why is something that is intended to

touch a person’s taste buds taste so bad? I hand the bottle back to Bellamy.

“Ry, sweetheart? What should I do?” I don’t turn around but I’m pretty sure that Bellamy is shuffling inplace. He wants to be helpful and he wants to DO something to make me feel better. He hates waiting,or rather he hates inaction and not knowing what to do.

“You don’t need to do anything. Just be here and if you can think of a way to make my brain. shut upand stop replaying my nightmare from last night, that would be awesome.”

Bellamy thinks for a minute.

“So you want a distraction then.” He clarifies. I nod and stick my head under the stream of water to startrinsing out the vomit.

142- Shampoo and spending

“Well, you’re meant to return to work tomorrow. You need to decide what you’re going to do.” He sayspointedly. Oh, I had actually forgotten that. Time this last two weeks has somehow been very fast andvery slow at the same time. It feels like it’s only been like two days, but at the same time it feels like it’sbeen forever since I was last at work. Yeah I don’t think Bellamy would take it well if I said I wanted togo back to work. The good news for him is that I don’t particularly want to go back. The longer I’m awaythe less I want to be there. But I can’t just sponge off Bellamy forever. It’s just not something I can putup with. I would feel way too guilty, and Bellamy would make it way too easy for me to become lazy. Itip shampoo. onto my hand and start running it through my hair while I think.

“Well, you’ll be thrilled to hear that I don’t plan to throw a fit about needing to go back immediately, Idon’t really even want to go back that badly. But it is my job and I need the money. I don’t have anymore leave so I’m not really sure what my other choices are. I have to pay my rent somehow.” I sigh infrustration. When Bellamy answers, the only word I can use to describe his tone is controlled. He isobviously choosing his words with care. Probably trying not to be all bossy again.

“I’m sure you know what I would prefer you do, but in case you don’t, I want you to quit. Just

don’t go back, you don’t need that job.” I roll my eyes even though he can’t see it. I start

rinsing the shampoo from my hair.

“I do too need my job. Rent is a thing, not to mention I have bills and I need food every now

and then.” I remind him. Bellamy sighs.

“Okay, forget your rent and bills for a minute. What else do you NEED money for? I can give you one ofmy credit cards if it would stop you worrying about it.” He offers. I freeze up and my initial reaction is toflat out refuse and yell at him for being so casual about trying to just give me money. Something aboutbeing independent and so on. But I’m pretty sure that he

trying to be controlling or anything by making the offer, he probably really is just thinking it will makethings less stressful for me. He really doesn’t seem to understand why I’m so concerned about money.He’s never been broke and it kind of shows. While I think about how to respond, I tip shampoo on mypalm and start running it through my hair.

Wasn’t

“Okay, so i’m thinking you don’t love that suggestion.” Bellamy comments.

“I don’t like it, but I am trying to think of other solutions. I want to replace an outcome that we can both behappy with. I’m also trying to remind myself that I shouldn’t be offended by you offering money… andhow did you know that I didn’t like it?” I question. Bellamy laughs.

142- Shampoo and spending.

“Because you already shampooed your hair. You’re washing it a second time.” he points out. Oh, oops.I rinse my hair and swap the shampoo bottle for the conditioner.

“Right… Do you have any suggestions? I suspect that you didn’t just start thinking about this

now.”

“You suspect correctly. So, I have an idea about your place. Just try not to freak out and think about itbefore you answer, okay?” He says warily. Oh great, that sounds less than hopeful. I run conditionerthrough the ends of my hair.

ווין

“I’ll try.” I hedge.

“Okay, so what if I could replace someone to take over your lease? Maggie would still have a tennant andshe wouldn’t lose any money. You wouldn’t have to worry about rent or bills, you know you can stayhere as long as you want. Forever ideally.” He adds. Okay, so that’s not. what I thought he would say. Imean I’m not shocked he wants me to give up my place, but I am surprised to hear that he thought itthrough so much, tried to work out a plan so that it doesn’t negatively affect Maggie. Now I feel a littlebad for my earlier thought about him. never being broke. I mean it’s technically true, but he’s justdemonstrated that he is aware of people’s finances. It’s just me that he thinks shouldn’t worry. I’mhaving flashbacks to when Megan told me that Shifters tend to want to be very generous towards theirmates. I can’t say it isn’t true. Still, I’m not totally sold on this plan. I need my own income, I need towork. I can’t just sit around all the time forever. I also don’t want to feel like I’m getting forced out of myplace and I don’t want to just ditch Maggie. She’s been a good friend to me, and I miss

seeing her regularly.

“1… I’m not sure. I’ll talk about it with Maggie and see how I feel after that.” A thought

occurs to me.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to quit my job! I need to earn my money, you can’t just give it tome. This needs further discussion. But I should call Maggie first.” I conclude. I glance back at Bellamywho immediately looks away. Okay, well he did well with the whole distraction thing, I haven’t thoughtabout him probably watching me this whole time… up until right now. I turn off the water and before Ican ask, Bellamy is dropping a towel over my

shoulders.

“Thanks.” I pull it tight around me and step out of the shower, finally turning to face Bellamy

142- Shampoo and spending

properly. He looks… hopeful. Apparently this conversation is going better than he expected. I headback into the bedroom and replace some clean clothes. Bellamy picks up my vomit covered clothes anddrops them in a hamper. Bellamy closes his eyes so that I can get dressed and as soon as I tell himthat it’s safe to open them again he’s handing me my phone so that I can call Maggie. He’s very eager,but to be fair, I do need to figure this out today.