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She went willingly for about two-point-five seconds, then wrenched her arm away from him. “Don’t guide me. I don’t need you.”
Then they were too far away to hear anything, but I saw them continue down the stairs, the two of them so close that they might as well have been seconds away from kissing. But there was nothing sweet and romantic about the way they were looking at each other. They were glaring hard enough to cause everyone around to give them a wide birth. And Quinn and Shayne were talking loudly, because as they passed people, the people would stare warily.
“Well, that was fun.” Ande sniffled.
“Predictable,” Quincy muttered. “It’d be really nice if they stopped beating around the bush already.”
“One day they might,” Ande shook her head. “But she’s stubborn, and so is he. There’s no right answer to any of it.”
“No,” Quincy stood up and caught his jacket. “And since we’ve already broken up, it’s time for me to head home.”
“Me, too.” Gable stood. “I gotta get back or they’ll notice I’m gone.”
As each brother left, they gave Ande a kiss on the head.
It wasn’t until the last one—Garrett—started to leave that he said, “Are you staying at Mom’s or my house?”
Ande bit her lip. “Neither.”
“Neither?” he asked incredulously. “If not there then… his place.”
I braced for the look of annoyance and contempt to cross his face, but Garrett nodded. “If you need anything, holler. I love you, Ande.”
Then he was slapping me on the shoulder and heading out himself, leaving his sister in my care.
“That was way easier than I thought it would be,” I admitted.
“That’s because Garrett isn’t the same person he used to be,” she murmured, watching him go. “Ever since he was stabbed, and all that went down with the gangs, he’s been this shell of a person. He puts on a good show, but it’s obvious to us all that he’s just not… right. We’ve all banded together to help but…”
I knew a little bit about needing to heal.
“Sometimes a man needs to fix himself by himself,” I said as I threw my hand over her shoulder. “You ready to go?”
She caught my hand, and I led her out of the bar.
“Shh,” she said as she pointed.
I looked up to find Shayne and Quinn arguing on a street corner.
Someone was leaning on a car in an alley close by, keeping a watch over the couple.
“What’s that about?” I whispered.
“That looks like her brother,” Ande admitted. “My brother and hers do not get along.”
I could see the way both men were rigid.
They didn’t look happy to be in each other’s vicinity at all.
“Let’s go,” I urged. “Let them figure that out.”
“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” she admitted as we walked toward my building. “Man, this has been a day.”
No kidding.
CHAPTER 14
You, brother, are the human version of period cramps.
