Unhinged Love

Chapter 4

Avery's POV

I finished up cleaning the bakery for the day, and I was ready to head home, but before I did, I grabbed my phone and had a surprising text. Conrad. It had been a while since I had heard from him. We had shared one amazing kiss in a time of grief. He had asked me out several times and I shot him down each time, not because I wanted to but because I thought it might cause problems between him and Max. I may be a little crazy, and I show big feelings and love with my whole body and expect the same in return, but I wouldn't come between two brothers like that and I told him that. I even had Ashlynn, my best friend, and she was married to Barrette, their other brother, asking me about it. Apparently, Max had seen when I kissed Conrad, but things were over between us, and it was totally my fault. I showed up at his door thinking he was cheating and accused him of such and then demanded that, if we were to stay together, he would transfer to a school close to home so we could be together all the time. It wasn't my finest moment, but it's who I am. I give them my full attention and I expect the same.

He thought he was so slick, but I saw him sitting outside my apartment when I went on dates or out with friends. Jokes on him because some of the guys I went on dates with were simply to annoy him and get under skin and I knew it was working. I wasn't going to go on this date with him this Saturday. In fact, I was going to not answer him and I would make sure that I had another date lined up for Saturday and have them show up at the same time. Now I just needed to find the perfect guy that would drive him wild.

I quickly went home to my small little house that I loved so much. When my grandparents died, they had left me their house in the will and a trust for my parents and both my brother and me. I sold the house, used the money to pay for my school and used the rest to buy this place. At the time, I still had the trust fund my parents had for me, but I couldn't access it without their permission, and they weren't going to give it to me. In fact, the only time they have spoken to me was when I asked to get access to my trust fund to buy into the bakery and to my shock, they granted it. I couldn't access it without their permission until I was thirty. Come to find out they had taken the majority of the money. I had enough to pay Ashlynn and left about five thousand dollars in there. I was supposed to ask them about buying out the rest of the bakery, but I knew I didn't have enough in there, and they weren't going to give me a penny of their own money. They had already taken what was supposed to be mine, but according to them, they were doing me this one favor, so I could finish screwing up my life. Jokes on them though, because I have never been happier since I left and never looked back.

I poured a glass of wine and went to my little couch and sat down and pulled up the dating app that I used. I started going through everyone I could. To a nerdy guy, to an uptight-looking guy, one that has kids, another that lives with his parents, one that was too young and the list goes on and on. I was about to give up when I found someone who would be perfect. He was tall, hot as f**k, looked the bad boy part, worked as a mechanic and, honestly, someone I would totally go for if I wasn't trying to make Conrad jealous.

I opened his profile and sent him a message, "Hey handsome, how are you?" I hit send, letting the simple message do the work.

"Hey beautiful, my day is much better now that you messaged me," he replied back. Gag, normally that would turn me off. Classic guy line. Be a little original.

"Tell me, do those tattoos go all the way down or just on your chest."

"Why don't you let me take you out, and you can find out."

"Moving a little fast."

"You asked."

"Where would you take me?"

"For a beautiful girl like you, I would take you to the nicest steakhouse in town. Order a nice bottle of wine and have a good dinner, and then we could take a nice ride on my motorcycle down to the bay and walk the beach as the sun sets."

"Do all girls fall for that?"

"What would you rather do?"

"How about you take me out to a place where I can get a good beer and burger? I'm not the fancy type. I want to wear jeans, not a dress."

"That sounds way better. You're different from most girls. I just wanted to make a good first impression, but how about I pick you up on Friday at seven?"

"Can't sorry, but you can pick me up on Saturday at seven, if you play your cards right this week."

"It's a good thing that I'm a damn good poker player."

This continued for the next hour, going back and forth, and I knew it was a bad idea to do this, but I couldn't just bring myself to care. I finally gave him my phone number, and we switched over to texting, which went on until I fell asleep around ten, but he did tell me the shop that he owned, and I was able to google it, which made me feel a little safer.

I spent the rest of the week working and texting. Conrad had sent me several more texts throughout the week, but I had happily ignored him and I knew that it was driving him crazy because his last text read "Woman, if you don't answer me, I'm going to come to your house and teach you some manners." I decided to keep my bad manners and ignored that one as well.

I was about to close the shop down for the day on Friday when a delivery man showed up and brought in the biggest bouquet of lilies and roses that I had ever seen.

"I'm looking for Avery," he said.

"That's me." I told him, and he pushed the very fragrant flowers in my face and turned around and walked back out. I followed him and locked the door and took the flowers back to the counter and pulled the card off.

"Beautiful flowers for a beautiful girl. Can't wait for our date tomorrow."

-Ryder

I smiled and grabbed my phone. If I wasn't trying to get to Conrad so much, I would totally be swooning over this right now. Let's be real, I am totally swooning over him. This was a dangerous game I was playing, and I felt a little bad about it, but in every war, there must be a casualty.

"Thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful," I typed out to him and added a winking emoji.

"I think your hand just improved. You went from a pair to maybe three of a kind." I followed it up with and took the flowers back to my office, left them there and went home.

The bakery was busier than usual today, and so I had no time to text with Ryder and I really didn't have time to see what Conrad had texted me, so when I closed the bakery, the first thing I did was pull my phone out, and I had a single text from Ryder confirming that he was picking me up tonight and had five from Conrad asking about tonight. He was getting desperate, and I wanted to feel bad, but I just couldn't find it in me. I basically had him where I wanted him, and tonight he would fly off the handle and show me his possessive side. God that side of a man could be so hot. I knew I would have to pay the price for this game, but I knew that it was going to be so worth it.

I went home and took an everything shower. I wasn't planning on sleeping with either of them, but sometimes s**t happens, and so I wanted to be prepared. I shaved everything and washed my long blonde hair and, when I got out, I put on the best-smelling lotion that I had and got set to blowing my hair dry, and then I put it in big loose curls and poofed it up a little and then put on a full face of makeup. I wanted to make sure that I looked my absolute best. I went heavy with the eyeliner and a smokey eye. It was more than I usually ever did, but tonight seemed like it called for it. Once done, I pulled my favorite jeans out of my dresser and then my favorite red lace thong and matching bra that also made the t**s look amazing. I slipped all of that on and then walked into the closet and flipped through my shirts and I finally found the perfect top. A black top that had a deep neckline and was backless as it went around my neck and was tight around the waist. I had to get rid of the bra and go with some boob tape. I grabbed my favorite pair of black stiletto heels. I finished getting ready and sprayed myself with some perfume and put on some jewelry and grabbed my purse and made sure that my pepper spray was in there.

I checked my phone, and it was six fifty-eight and just as I locked my screen there was a knock on my door and I hoped that it was Ryder and not Conrad. I needed him to show up in just a few minutes. I walked to the door and when I opened the door, Ryder was standing there looking fine as wine. Tall, thick with muscle, not as much as Conrad but still plenty. He had a black button-up shirt and dark washed jeans and black combat boots. Damn it, he was good-looking. His blonde hair was long enough that it fell in his face, but when he pushed it back with his hand, I saw those deep rich chocolate eyes they were memorizing. He gave me this half-smile that I'm sure melted the panties right off any girl.

"Damn baby, you look beautiful. I think I've died and gone to heaven," he said in a deep voice.

"You don't look so bad yourself," he said, and I heard a car pull up, and I just smiled. This worked out perfectly, I thought, until I saw the look on Conrad's face. He was red with anger.

"What the f**k is going on Avery?" He growled coming up my steps.

"Who the f**k are you?" Ryder asked, turning around looking at him and then back at me. Conrad didn't answer him but walked right up to me.

"Care to explain yourself," he growled.

"Do you know this asshole?" Ryder asked.

"Ya, I'm her boyfriend. Get the hell out here."

"Whoa man, she never told me she had a boyfriend."

"Because I don't."

"You do now."

"Conrad, I never agreed to your date."

"I don't f*****g care; you aren't going out with him. Get lost Ryder," he said, and I had no clue how he knew him because Ryder seemed not to know him.

"Get your hands off her," Ryder yelled and grabbed my other arm and tried to pull me closer.

Conrad dropped my arm and stepped up to Ryder. "Get your greasy f*****g hands off her now."

"Or what?" Ryder asked, pulling me towards him.