Millie’s sadness was gone as fast as it came, and as much as I wanted to sulk about staying, I couldn’t. I’d do anything to keep that big, beautiful smile on her lips. Even endure a dinner with my sister, my ex, and their inexplicable need to always have their hands on each other.
“I’m going to see if Mom needs help in the kitchen. Can I get you anything?”
“Nah. We’re all good here. Isn’t that right, little one?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Without looking at me, Millie continued flicking through the channels.
With a shake of my head, I headed into the kitchen. My mom wasn’t there, but it wasn’t empty either.
“Hey, Katie. Didn’t get to greet you earlier.” Bryce swallowed his water and set the glass in the sink. “How have you been?”
My first instinct was to get the hell out of there. But then a little voice in the back of my head asked why I was always the one to flee. So instead of running away like I usually did, I moved farther into the kitchen.
Bryce’s gaze was on me as I made my way to the fridge to grab a soda. I didn’t like it. I was about to say as much.
“You look really good,” he said.
Rage bubbled through my veins, setting my pulse on fire. Slamming the fridge door, I pointed a finger at him. “You don’t get to say that.” I inched closer and lowered my voice, my icy tone, though, remained. “You lost the right to even speak to me when you stuck your dick in my sister.”
With that I left Bryce and his slack jaw behind.
Chapter five
Tristan
Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.
I should’ve gone with my gut instinct to skip breakfast and head into the office. But since I figured I owed my best friends some explanation why I dropped off the face of the earth the previous night, I ignored the warning bells. Now here I sat staring at the disbelief on both their faces.
“You’re kidding, right?” Rafe asked.
“Yeah,” Liam added. “Thought this was a done deal.”
You and me both, man. I gritted my teeth. “Apparently not.”
I was still pretty sour over the partner thing. Mostly because Mr. Livingston hadn’t said a damn word about hard work. All of this bullshit came down to my personal life which, in all honesty, didn’t have a fucking thing to do with my work ethic.
“So what now?” Liam wanted to know.
I shrugged. “Now I work two times harder and hope it’s enough.”
Maybe I should have told them what Mr. Livingston had hinted at. If anyone understood, it’d be Liam. He was basically forced to marry to keep his company. Heck, Rafe was even the one to find his wife.
Not that I needed a wife specifically. A girlfriend would do fine. Anything for the rest of the board members to see I wasn’t as uninterested in a committed relationship as I really was.
My friends would help, I knew they would, and yet, I couldn’t bring myself to utter a single word about it.
“Good morning, my name is Angela, and I’ll be serving you today.”
Thank fuck for Angela’s timing.
“What can I get you?”
Rafe ordered first. An espresso with a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel. When it was time for Liam to order, she perked up. I knew why too.
“Oh, your accent.” Her cheeks turned red.
I grunted. Women always fawned over that damn British accent.
