The Upside of Being Let Down (new adult romance - 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

fuck? ” he yelled. “ I ’ m
not... ”
    Bryan growled.
    He crouched down and grabbed Jeff ’ s shirt. He pulled it up over
Jeff ’ s head, smearing some
of the vomit on Jeff ’ s
face. With the shirt off and inside out, he did his best to clean Jeff up, so
he could carry his drunk friend.
    “ I
can ’ t believe I ’ m doing this, ” Bryan said as he balled the
shirt up.
    “ That ’ s so gross, ” Gary said. “ So nasty. Fuck. ”
    Bryan looked up at Gary. He stood
with his hands in his pockets and Bryan reached his breaking point. He threw
the shirt at Gary. Gary jumped back but the shirt hit him. Nothing ended up on
Gary, but he screamed like a girl. When he tried to kick the shirt it opened
and left some vomit on his black shoe.
    The shirt then went sailing into
the air and landed in the middle of the parking lot.
    “ I ’ m not touching that, ” Gary said.
    “ What
the fuck do I care? This isn ’ t
my apartment. ”
    “ This
is nasty, ” Gary said.
    “ Nasty...
and I ’ m the one cleaning
him up and trying to carry him. ”
    Bryan grabbed Jeff ’ s wrists again.
    “ Jeff,
buddy, I ’ m going to pick
you up, ” Bryan said. “ If you throw up on me, I ’ ll kill you. Literally kill you. ”
    Gary laughed and Jeff slurred.
    Bryan looked at Gary. “ If he pukes on me I ’ m going to drop him in your bed. ”
    “ Dude... ”
    Bryan lifted Jeff and started to
carry him. He carried him like they were just married, taking him across the
threshold. As Bryan walked, Jeff made noises. He stunk of booze and vomit.
    Gary managed to hurry by Bryan,
doing his part by opening the door to the apartment. Bryan bent down and
dropped Jeff to the floor.
    “ Bryan... ”
    “ Fuck
it, ” Bryan said. “ That ’ s where he ’ s
staying. ”
    Bryan walked into the bathroom and
washed his hands. He felt his pocket vibrate and jumped.
    It wasn ’ t his phone.
    His phone was in the car.
    It was AJ ’ s phone.
    “ Shit, ” he whispered.
    He licked his lips as he tried to
convince himself not to check it.
    What if it was something important?
    From a friend... from family...
    Or what if it was AJ texting,
looking for her phone?
    Bryan smiled and touched his
pocket. He took the phone out and looked at the message.
    It was from Angela.
    And it didn ’ t look like a good message at all.
    Sorry about everything AJ. If
you can find a way to get your bed and desk out, great. If not... whatever
    Bryan ’ s
eyes widened and he read the message again.
    That wasn ’ t good at all.
    Bryan left the bathroom, the cell
phone tucked in his pocket. Gary was back looking at his cell phone. Bryan
smacked the phone from his hand.
    “ Fuck,
dude! ” Gary yelled.
    “ Have
a good night, ” Bryan said.
    He stepped over Jeff and left the
apartment.
    Before he could get to his car, he
took AJ ’ s phone back out of
his pocket.
    There had to be something there.
    He started with the messages. If
felt so wrong and intrusive to read someone else ’ s
messages, but he assured himself that it had purpose.
    There were messages from Angela,
Steph, Rachael, Mike, Winnie, Mom, and Beth.
    None of them contained anything
that seemed to have value... except something about Winnie taking her clothes
off. It sounded kind of hot and left Bryan wondering just how wild AJ could be.
Bryan felt tempted to keep going, to read more into the messages, especially
the ones with Winnie.
    But he knew better.
    He didn ’ t want to be a total creep when he eventually found
AJ.
    Then a thought came to him.
    Was a cell phone really that
important anymore? Sure, having a cell phone was important, but the actual cell
phone meant nothing. AJ could just wake up in the morning and go get a new
phone.
    Bryan didn ’ t want to believe that.
    It had to mean something that he
held AJ ’ s cell phone. It
had to have purpose.
    Bryan closed the messages and
looked at the home screen. He saw the icon for email and he clicked it.
    That ’ s
where it all paid off.
    The