Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 104

Briar

I was overwhelmed, and Lana was to blame. I strained a smile and shook the hands of the people congratulating me for my mothers pie. It was a strange feeling. The dues weren’t for me, but her and my throat tightened at the thought as I hurried through the small throng of people politely praising me. Had mom chosen to stay here, I wondered if she would have been a rare exception to the community’s weariness of outsiders. At home my mother was cordial with everyone but she didn’t make friends, the only person she seemed at ease with was Jake. How was this place any different? Being outsiders here or there… she must have had a reason. The thoughts were loud in my head.

Something alerted me to a presence. When I looked up I was staring into the silver eyes of the man from earlier today. The way his eyes bored into mine across the tent reminded me of someone else. I couldn’t place it, this unnerving feeling. Something truly unsettled me about this man. I was making my way off the stage intending on getting far away from him when Carter’s sister intercepted me.

“I need to talk to you…” she said, looping her arm into mine and dragging me out of the tent. Where were Lana and Carter? What did she want right now? I wasn’t in the right mind to manage it all.

“What’s up? I asked.

“I’m going to cut the bullshit, Briar.” she said, pulling me off to the side. “Whatever is going on with you and my brother. It needs to stop. You're a distraction to him, he should be out there looking for someone to grow old with, not sitting at home day and night with a charity case. Let’s face it. That’s what you are to him.”

My jaw dropped. She had always been so kind before, to the extent that she even pushed us together. Or snuck treats into our orders. This? It left me in -total shock.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, you're holding him back from living a full life, you should do him a favor and break whatever this is off before you break his heart or whatever it is you're running from catches up with you…and him. You don’t deserve him. Girls like you don’t go for the nice guy. You’ll leave him with his heart shredded and just get involved with another piece of shit asshole,” she said spitefully.

I blinked the words rushing into me as she glared at me, poised to rush off. Where the fuck was this coming from?

“If you love, or even care for him at all, you’ll cut your ties with him before he gets caught up in your mess. He’s a good man and doesn't deserve what's coming to him…as long as you're in the picture he has no life to live.” She said with malice before she walked off, disappearing into the crowd.

Everything I tried to manifest into this new life with Carter came crashing down in an instant. I watched her walk off as Lana came up to me and I forced my tears back. The thing was that his sister’s accusations weren’t entirely wrong.

“I’m sorry I should have warned you,” she stammered thinking my upsetness was her doing over the stupid baking contest. I waved it off and forced a smile.

“Just thinking about my mama, it was her recipe,” I lied to hide the reason for my upset, not the truth of the recipe's origin. The well of emotions tangling within me. Carter’s sister wasn’t wrong, how many times had I told myself no? How many times had I pushed this man who gave so much of himself away just to take from him in the end? I schooled my features. I had so much damn shit to sift through and right now wasn’t the time. But she was right, I didn't deserve him. He had given me so much time, so much attention that I wondered if she was right. Maybe what we had was just his good intentions and me sucking it out of him.

This was just my own damn bullshit. Carter shouldn’t be dealing with any of it. This and his sister’s brutal revelation was just icing on the cake at the end of a truly messed up day. My conscience weighed on me, reminding me I needed to think of others. That pierced me deeply into the core. Carter had been my life line. The only thing keeping me from letting the rest swallow me entirely I had fallen in love with how easy it was with him. How whole I felt within his presence. Was it just a facade to make me feel like I had everything under control? I needed to be in control of myself, not relying on him to be the balm of my existence.