AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay. I’ll go look for her. A.J.?” I glance back at him and hold my hand out. He takes it but before he walks away, he turns back to Quentin.
“Nice meeting you.”
“You too.”
As we walk down the hall I give A.J. a sidelong glance.
“Stirring the pot tonight, are we? I thought you were saving me from him.”
“I was until I saw the way you two look at each other. There’s no saving you from yourself where he’s concerned. If I was your real boyfriend, I’d be counting down the days I had left.”
I start to protest, but A.J. just gives me a pointed look, so I shut my mouth instead and hurry to look for Wren.
18
Quentin
Watchingher walk away with him twists something harder in my chest, stealing a little bit of my oxygen.
“Can I get you something?”
“Whiskey double. Neat.”
“Coming right up.”
I watch the two of them disappear out the door and I can feel the panic well inside my gut. I hate the idea of her going home with him. Until now I’ve had to be okay with the idea of them, but it’s been a distant sort of philosophical truth that they’re together. She didn’t go home to him every night. They didn’t eat dinner together or watch TV. They didn’t spend their afternoons laughing together or share cake for dessert. They didn’t spend hours strategizing the next moves for his career or work out the next PR campaign he should participate in. She did all of that with me. She was mine most hours of theday. I only had to be without her when she went home at night. And after last night, I knew some of that time belonged to me too.
But now I’m going to have to watch her laugh with him. Leave with him. I’m not sure I can do it.
“Here you go.” The bartender slides my drink to me and I tip him before I guzzle it down in one fell swoop and push the glass back across the counter. I stop myself from ordering another, even though I want one. It’s one thing to take the edge off and another to be drunk enough to do something stupid. Like tell her I still love her.
I might need to leave soon if I’m going to stop myself from doing that. Because despite his absence in her daily life, he seems like a good guy. He trusts her. Nothing I said even made him flinch. Which means he knows her well enough and is confident that she loves him enough that he doesn’t have to worry.
East walks up to the bar next to me and orders a drink before he turns to look at me, something like pity in his eyes.
“Imagine that’s fucking painful.”
“What’s that?”
“That you stole his spot here and he still has everything you want.” East’s eyes glitter with the taunt as he takes a sip of his drink.
I hate that he has something on me that lets him twist the knife in, but I won’t deny it. Can’t deny her. Especially not to her brothers. Because if there’s one thing I won’t do, it’s make the same mistake again.
"Like a rusty spoon being twisted in,” I agree and his brows lift in surprise.
“Surprised you admit it.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because it’ll be embarrassing when you fail. She’s not a teenager anymore. She’s not going to be easily swayed bywhatever charming shit you try to pull. The flowers and ice cream went over like lead.”
“I’m not embarrassed for trying again. I’m embarrassed I fucked it up the first time. I don’t expect anything to come easy to me. I wasn’t born with a dad who had more money than Croesus. I’ve spent my whole life working for everything I have.”
I see East’s jaw click, and I know I’ve hit a nerve. But the two of us are going to have to work through this, and we might as well have some of it out now. He takes another sip of his drink, his throat bobbing on it before he sits the glass down, scanning the room before his eyes meet mine.
“My wife hated guys with money, and I had to work my ass off to win her over. The difference is I didn’t walk away when things got hard. I showed up for her day after day. That’s the only way a relationship works. The only way a marriage works when you’re years in and you’re both overworked and stressed and tired.” His eyes spark with a warning. “My sister shows up for everyone in this family. Any time we need anything, she comes running to save the day. She deserves a partner who shows up. Someone who moves heaven and fucking earth for her.”
“And A.J.’s that guy? Spending his whole summer up in Chicago with his ex-wife and family while she’s down here alone? You think he’s gonna put her first?”
