Stuck With Me
Melissa Brown
STUCK WITH ME
A WITH ME IN SEATTLE UNIVERSE NOVEL
MELISSA BROWN
Copyright © 2020 by MELISSA BROWN
All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect are appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Edited by Hollie Westring
Cover Design: Kari March Designs
Published by: Lady Boss Press, Inc.
STUCK WITH ME
A With Me In Seattle Universe Novel
By Melissa Brown
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
The With Me in Seattle Universe
Acknowledgments
About the Author
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Also by Melissa Brown
Prologue
“It’s over, Dev.”
I blinked as I stared at my girlfriend, my mouth agape and my heart on my sleeve. Trupti dropped a bomb I never saw coming, a bomb that would destroy my life, obliterate the past six years I’d spent loving her, worshipping her, thinking she’d hung the damn moon. My breath caught, and the small box I held underneath the table suddenly felt large and foreign in my gripping hand as her words sank in.
It’s over. It’s over. It’s fucking over.
My brow furrowed and I swallowed hard, trying to keep myself steady as the world crashed down around me. “What are you talking about?”
Trupti looked down at the table. The table I’d reserved for us at her favorite restaurant weeks ago, where I had planned to propose in just a few minutes. I’d planned my speech. I knew exactly what to say… how she was my first love, my only love, how I wanted to buy that house we saw on Longbourn Avenue, how I wanted to fly her grandparents and my nani in from India to attend our wedding. Hell, if she wanted to, I’d fly both our families to India to get married—whatever she wanted, I would do it. No questions asked. Because Trupti owned my heart. Utterly and completely.
I had so much I was going to say to her in my proposal, so much of my heart I was planning to place in her cold, heartless hands. And now I was left spinning. The room felt hot, and my collar was shrinking around my neck, suffocating me.
She ran a hand through her silky black hair, still not looking me in the eye. Just last week, I was running my hands through her hair as her head rested on my lap while I watched football on a lazy Saturday afternoon. How on earth did things change so drastically in just a matter of days?
She shrugged. “Look, I’m sorry…I just…this isn’t what I want.”
“Not what you want? We’ve been together for six years… We’ve planned our future, we’ve looked at houses—”
She shook her head, rolling her eyes. “You’ve planned, you’ve looked… You just never noticed I wasn’t looking too. I wasn’t planning anything, Dev.”
“That’s not true,” I shook my head, squeezing the ring box in my trembling hands. My leg bobbed underneath the table as I repeated myself, my tone more emphatic than before. “That’s not true.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“Tell me why.”
I swallowed hard, preparing for the worst. The thought of another guy’s hands on her body made rage surge through me. Trupti was my first love, my only, my everything. How could she do this? She sat in silence, avoiding my demands.
“C’mon. I want to hear you say it.”
“Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Can’t we just move on? And be friends or something? I mean, I still want you in my life, Dev.”
“Just. Say. It. Put me out of my fucking misery.”
“Fine.” She threw her hands up into the air, exasperated. “I want more.”
I paused for a beat, not expecting that answer. Not at all. I’d given her everything. How could she possibly want more?
“More what?” I asked, genuinely puzzled.
“Just more...” She glanced around the room, “Everything. More heat, more spark, more adventure…everything.”
In other words, you’re not enough, Dev. Punch in the motherfucking gut.
“Heat? Spark? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Keep your voice down.”
I slammed my hand on the white linen tablecloth. The table vibrated against my palm, and I could feel dozens of eyes on me, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything anymore.
Everything is shit. May as well go out with a bang.
“So, for six years I was enough for you. But now….what? You’ve had some kind of awakening or whatever? And I’m not enough for you anymore? Trips to the Bahamas, paying off your student loans, that emerald necklace around your greedy little neck.” I leaned in close, lowering my voice. “Making you come so hard you passed out.”
“That was one time,” she hissed. “And I’d had way too much to drink. It was the alcohol, not you. Don’t flatter yourself.” She was trying to insult me with a forked tongue, but I knew better. She shifted in her seat, finally looking as uncomfortable as I felt. Trupti hated confrontation.
Mission accomplished. How do you like it, Trup?
“I missed business trips to take care of you. I flew us to India so you could meet my nani. Where did you think this was going, Trupti?”
“Dev, stop.” She begged with a groan and a sigh.
“What’s his name?
“There’s no one else, I swear it.” She shook her head, finally looking me in the eye. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Sure you wouldn’t.” This time it was my turn to look away. Her gaze felt like fire on my skin.
“Come on, please look at me. I’m being honest with you; you just don’t want to hear it.”
“Whatever.” My eyes scanned the room. Happy people chatting over appetizers and glasses of wine, people toasting one another, and one couple was making out in their booth. I wanted to tell them all to go to hell. If I had to be this miserable, I wanted to take everyone down with me.
“Here’s the thing… We’ve been together for such a long time, and I accepted that this was it.”
That word was like a knife in my back. I held up one hand and repeated her word back to her with venom pouring from my mouth. “Accepted? You accepted this? Us? Are you fucking kidding me?”
She closed her eyes tight, continuing, “But then, I started thinking… What it if isn’t? We’re still in our twenties; there’s still time.”
“Time for what?” I demanded, my hand
s balled into fists, and the box I felt in my grasp only made my anger feel unbearable. I was going to explode.
“To be single, to date, to hook up, to do all the careless things I didn’t do before. You were my first, Dev. And we jumped into so many things. I missed out on a lot.”
“Wow. I’m so sorry that I kept you from all of that excitement you poor, sheltered little brat,” I sneered. She was turning the best six years of my life into nothing but regret and missed opportunities and I wasn’t having it.
She shook her head again, reaching for my hand. I pulled it away quickly from her grasp. “Maybe I’m not saying this right. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. What we had was really nice—”
“Nice?” I was incensed, raising my voice in disbelief. “Nice?”
“And it made me who I am today. It’s just that—”
“No, I get it. You wasted your time with a guy who loved you.” I slid the ring box back into my pocket, never wanting her to know I was going to offer her my life, offer her my future and everything that came with it. “And now you want casual sex and random hookups. Way to dream big, Trupti.”
“You were never a waste of time. But it’s been months, and you couldn’t even see how unhappy I was and I was right in front of your face. What does that say about you?”
“Why don’t you tell me? You seem to be the expert.”
She sighed before taking a sip of her water. “I’ve been unhappy for a very long time. You just didn’t want to see it. You couldn’t stand for your plans to be disrupted.”
“Bullshit.”
“You want the house, the kids, the annual trips to the Caribbean.”
“So? Who doesn’t?”
“Me.” Her eyes welled with tears. “At least not yet. I haven’t lived a life yet. I’m not ready to settle.”
“Well, by all means,” I said, rising to my feet and pushing in my chair. “Don’t let me keep you from living your life. But don’t come crawling back to me when some douchebag gives you an STD, all right? Because I’m done letting you waste my time.”
She reached across the table and grabbed my sleeve. One tear drifted down her reddened cheek as she pulled at the cotton fabric, which brushed harshly against my skin. “Don’t go, not like this.”
“Why not? Like you said, Trup, it’s over. So go live your goddamn life.”
“I don’t understand. You two were meant to be.” Mom’s hand shook as I reluctantly placed her mother’s ring in her palm.
“Apparently not, Mom.” I shook my head, fighting the emotions inside of me. It was the next morning, and with my tail between my legs, I’d landed on my parents’ doorstep to return my nani’s ring. I couldn’t stand to have it with me any longer. I had to give it back in order to close this chapter of my life and move on. Somehow. Without the ring, I thought I could have a fighting chance.
“But you got her parents’ permission, right? Why would she say no?”
“I never got to ask her, Mom. She dumped me before I even had the chance.”
Mom placed her hand on the back of my neck and pulled me in tight. “Oh pyaare bete,” my mom breathed into my ear, rubbing my back. She reserved this term of endearment, sweet boy, for the hardest moments of my life like when I broke my arm falling off my bike or when my dog died or the day I wasn’t accepted to Stanford. And now, when my heart was shattered by the one girl I thought I’d be with forever. I closed my eyes tightly as I wrapped my arms around her waist, sinking into her shoulder, looking for comfort that she, nor anyone, could ever possibly bring.
“I lost her, Mom. She’s gone.”
Warm tears dripped from my mom’s cheeks and landed on my neck. My pain was her pain and in that solidarity, I felt a sliver of comfort, of peace. For how long it would last, I had no idea.
“Can you tell Nani for me? I just can’t do it.” I pulled away, placing my hands on my mom’s elbows, unable to meet her gaze. “I know she’ll be heartbroken. She fell in love with Trup last fall.”
“I remember. But she won’t want to hear it from me. And she’ll want to know that you’re all right.”
“Please, Mom. You know I don’t ask you for a lot.”
She nodded, her eyes conflicted and troubled. “What about your father?”
“What about him?”
“Will you tell him? He’ll be home in a few minutes.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“And your brother and sister?”
“Mom, yes, okay? I’ll tell everyone…eventually.”
“Okay.” She looked relieved. The wrinkles in the corners of her eyes were damp with tears. She grabbed a tissue and dabbed before patting me on the back. “It will be okay. Are you hungry?”
“Nah.” I shook my head. “Don’t feel like eating.”
“But you love my food. You have to eat. I won’t allow her to crush your spirit.” My mom took so much pride in her cooking, to refuse her was an insult. But I was too destroyed to spare her feelings.
“No one’s spirit is crushed, Mom.” I rolled my eyes. “I stopped for something on the way over here.” Total lie and Mom knew it. She narrowed her eyes at me before gripping my shoulders.
She breathed in deeply, widening her eyes. “Why don’t we wait?’
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe we wait on telling Nani, your father…the rest of the family.”
“Why?”
“Give it some time. Maybe she’ll realize she made a big mistake.”
“Don’t hold your breath, Mom. I’m not.” I pressed my lips into a thin line. The pain that filled my gut the night before was slowly turning numb, and it was spreading to every part of me. “It’s over. Please just tell Nani.”
“I’m holding on to this,” she said, holding up the ring. “No arguments.”
“Mom, c’mon, listen to me—”
“Nani wants you to give this to your wife. Maybe you’re right; maybe that’s not going to be Trupti, but you will fall in love again.”
“Yeah, well…” I sighed, unable to imagine anyone ever measuring up to my girlfriend of six years. My love, my life, my world. How could anyone possibly make me feel the way she did? “Again, just don’t hold your breath, okay, Mom? I know I’m not.”
Mom’s eyes looked pained. She nodded and walked into the kitchen. “Sit down. I’m making you something to eat.”
“Mom—”
“No more arguments, Devanshu.” Mom was pulling out all the stops. She rarely used my full first name. I put up my arms in surrender. She laughed, all too proud of herself, and walked to the pantry to grab a canister of rice.
“Khichdi?” I asked, just the thought of my favorite comfort food revived my appetite. The rice-and-lentil dish had soothed me too many times to count over the years. Mom could make it for me any time of day or night and I would happily clean my plate. Trupti had attempted to make it for me once when I was sick, but it couldn’t touch my mom’s. No one’s could.
“Just sit.” She winked and pulled a pot from the cabinet. If anyone could try to nurse my broken heart, it was my mom…and her khichdi. And the least I could do was to be a good son and let her try.
Chapter 1
DEV
Two years later…
“Wake up, sleepy head,” she whispered into my ear, and I moaned.
“Not yet.” I waved her away with a smile on my face.
“Dev, it’s time to wake up.” Her warm hands ran up my legs, and she dragged her fingernails against my skin. Goosebumps rose to meet her touch.
“Not fair,” I said with a laugh. “You know I can’t resist those nails.”
“Good. Then you’ll actually get out of bed. You haven’t even packed yet.”
“Neither have you.”
Silence.
Shit.
That silence woke me up. I rolled over to stare at her beautiful face, but a sense of dread built in my gut. I knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“Okay, now you have my attention.”
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“I can’t go.” She bit down on her bottom lip—her attempt to seem distraught, conflicted. But I knew better.
I sighed loudly, pressing my hand to my forehead and closing my eyes. “Trupti…”
“I just can’t. I’m sorry.” Her tone was cold. “I have too much work to do. It’s a bad time for me to go away.”
“We’ve been over this. C’mon, Peter and Scott promised to play nice. And your office isn’t even open until January third.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just not comfortable. You need to respect that, okay? And I do have work to do—I’ll just work from home.”
We both knew she had zero work to do. But that was beside the point. Trupti and I had been sleeping together for about nine months or so. At first, it was a secret. My friends had dealt with my anger and douchebag resentment for more than a year after she broke my heart. I finally told them a few months ago, and they weren’t happy. Not at all. But they promised to be civil. Trupti had shied away from seeing them in any capacity—skipping Peter and his girlfriend Maren’s housewarming party, football potlucks, and the Friendsgiving dinner Scott and his wife, Allison, hosted at their place last month. There was always a reason, always a last minute excuse for her ducking out. And it was getting old. Really old.
And I was just about at the end of my rope.
“When is this all gonna end?”
“What?”
“Avoiding my friends.” I wasn’t going to hide the irritation in my voice anymore. I’d had enough.
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