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42 - Mystery Man

last update publish date: 2026-05-19 00:53:23

Kassidy's POV

The trip back home was silent. Neither of us said a word, but I could tell that Eli was excited about our kiss. I kept my face turned toward the passenger window, staring at the passing trees, but I wasn't actually looking at them. I was reliving the kiss. My mind kept looping back to the heat of his mouth and how his fingers had gripped my waist, and the short make out session that happened right after that in the front seat.

I couldn’t deny how good it felt, because it had sent
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  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Eighteen

    Kassidy's POVPiper's words kept looping in my head like an endless, tormenting echo, even after we left the deli. Every time I looked at Summer playing with her wooden blocks on the rug, my throat felt like it was closing up. The secret I had held to myself like a shield for four long years was suddenly killing me. Now I was keeping a niece from her aunt. Her aunt who was running out of time, who could die at any time.I didn't leave the apartment for the rest of Saturday or Sunday. The blinds stayed drawn, and I kept the front door locked. My phone kept buzzing and lighting up with messages and calls. Celeste's name popped up on the screen over a dozen times, followed by frantic text messages asking why I had sprinted away from the deli and if Piper had said something to upset me. I couldn't answer her. I didn't have the energy to explain the wreckage inside my head, so I turned the ringer off and let the notifications pile up in silence.By Sunday night, the silence in the apartme

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Seventeen

    Kassidy's POV"Can we talk alone?" Piper asked as she looked between me and Celeste.I felt cornered in that moment. After the last call that Piper had made to me, I had decided to never let her see me until I left Wisconsin. I did not want to talk to her, much less about all the ghosts in our past. I had promised myself that I would hide my daughter away from her and her brother.And yet, here she was. And she'd seen Summer already.Staring up at Piper with suspicious eyes, I shook my head. "I don't think I want to talk to you, Piper.""No, no, I completely understand if you're a little wary of me. Considering everything that has happened to us, I really c

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Sixteen

    Kassidy's POVStill reeling from the dinner that we'd had, I knew that I could no longer keep making excuses for Eli's behaviour. Whatever kindness I had glimpsed from him over the past few days was overshadowed by the reminder that he was still capable of hurting me when he felt cornered. Watching him talk softly to an intern or hold a door open for staff meant nothing. The second he felt backed into a wall, the old, bitter Elijah will return, ready to snap and drag everyone down with him. I couldn't afford to let a few polite moments from Eli trick me into forgetting what he was truly capable of.It had been a whole week after the dinner fiasco. I was trying—and failing—to order some Doordash food for myself and Summer, back at our apartment. I tapped my thumb against the phone screen for the fifth time, watching the ti

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Fifteen

    ELIJAH'S POVThe following morning, which was a Sunday, I woke up and stretched as I got out of bed. The first thing that came to my mind was how I had pestered Kassidy for information last night, and I felt like smacking myself in the face.What on earth was I thinking? I had cornered her at Marcus's place, poked around about her kid and almost begged for a slap in the face just to be noticed by her. I had acted like a desperate, clueless ex. I groaned out loud, dragging my hands down my face, wishing I could hit a rewind button on the entire disaster of an evening.I shoved my feet into my slippers, brushed my teeth with aggressive speed and padded down the stairs to make a cup of coffee. But the smell of sizzling bacon reached me before I even hit the bottom step. M

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Fourteen

    Elijah's POVThe dining table felt miles wide, but my attention never really left the little girl sitting with Marcus. While Celeste passed the salad bowl and Marcus kept the wine glasses filled, the rest of us danced around each other in a minefield of strained small talk. But Kassidy's daughter didn't care about all of that. She slid down from her chair, her small bare feet padding across the hardwood floor until she stopped right beside my seat."You have shiny buttons on your shirt," she announced, pointing a small finger at my silver cuff links.I froze in surprise for a second—was she really talking to me? I looked up at Celeste and Marcus, who were smiling hesitantly, then at Kassidy, who was staring straight ahead like she hadn't heard her daughter.Then, slowly, I relaxed and turned in my chair to face her properly. "They keep my sleeves from rolling up," I replied, a little stiffly. I didn't have any experience with children."Are they magic buttons?" The little girl asked,

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    Book 2: Thirteen

    Kassidy's POVI pulled my rental car up the long driveway a few hours later, staring at the massive structure ahead, which was Celeste and Marcus's residence. The house looked less like a standard residential property and more like a high-end country club in the woods."Did you guys secretly win the lottery, or is the wedding dress business just that criminally profitable?" I asked the second Celeste opened her front door. Summer raced inside immediately.I stepped into the living room, holding out a dark green glass bottle. "Here, I brought this.""Oh, shut up, it's just a standard layout," Celeste snatched the bottle from my hand and inspecting the label. "Ooh, a Cabernet, where did you even get this?"I laughed. "I actually brought it with me from Texas to drink alone, but I figured it would taste better if I shared it with you and Marcus."Celeste gave me a smirk. "Look at you, big-shot corporate lawyer. Come on into the kitchen."The kitchen was just as ridiculously large as the

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    04 - Pretty Regrets

    Kassidy's POVI left the house that morning without even eating my cereal. I needed air and distance and to be somewhere that wasn't that house. Quietly, I grabbed my bag, pushed my feet into my sneakers, and walked out the front door before anyone could say anything else to me.Other college fres

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    03 - After Party Effect

    Kassidy's POVWhen I woke up the next morning, the first thing I did was grin at the ceiling like an idiot.For about thirty seconds, I felt so warm, boneless, and stupidly happy, replaying the previous night in a loop that my brain seemed very committed to.Eli Deering had kissed me. Eli Deering h

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    02 - Party Downstairs

    Kassidy's POVEli Deering could go straight to hell.That was what I told myself, anyway, as I pulled my black dress over my hips and stepped back to look at myself in the mirror. I needed to believe it.The alternative was sitting alone in that room, stewing in the particular kind of smallness tha

  • Best Friend’s Brother Shouldn’t Know How I Taste    01 - Bastard next door

    Kassidy's POV"Are you inside yet?"I looked up at the house from where I was standing on the front door, and took a deep breath. My duffel bag slumped against my leg, and my fingers were so cold I could barely feel them."Not yet," I told Piper as I clenched my fist against the phone pressed to my

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