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“I don’t think I’m stuck—”
“Yes, you do! And if you hadn’t married her psycho ass, you wouldn’t be stuck with her now that Tate’s—”
“Jace!” Kinlee smacked his stomach, her eyes and mouth going wide.
All the air left my lungs in a rush, and I mashed my lips together as I nodded my head in order to not lash out at him—or break down in the middle of their kitchen. I drained my beer, tipped the bottle toward my brother, and slammed it on the counter. “Thanks for the invite, Kinlee. Good seeing you guys again.” I took a few steps before grunting, “It’s Tate’s birthday, if you forgot.”
“Brody . . .” they said at the same time, but I was still stalking toward the front door.
I rounded the corner at the same time Casey hit the end of the hall, and my steps actually faltered. Her wide eyes behind those fucking adorable glasses got even wider when she saw me, and one of her hands went up to the wall as if to keep herself up. Without realizing it, I’d changed direction and taken two steps toward her before I could stop myself. What was it about her? I’d never felt anything like this before, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted the feeling to last forever or wanted to run far from it. Because no matter how addicting the feeling was quickly becoming, I knew I couldn’t keep her.
I’m married, I kept repeating to myself. To a woman like Olivia or not, I shouldn’t be thinking about another woman this way . . . and Tate—shit. I swallowed the lump in my throat and had to force my eyes shut before I could turn away from Casey and leave my brother’s house.
3
Kamryn
May 9, 2015
“THINGS ARE GREAT, Barb, I swear.”
She sighed. “If you say so, baby girl. You just sound off today.”
I am off. And I know exactly why. I haven’t slept since the barbecue at Jace and Kinlee’s four days ago because all I can think about is a certain brother.
“You’re sighing.”
“I am?” I kept myself from sighing again and looked around the coffee shop to make sure I didn’t know anyone there before hanging my head. “I met a guy, Barb.”
“You did? Oh, baby girl! Then why do you seem so sad about this? Tell me all about him! Is he handsome?”
I smiled and felt my cheeks get warm. “Yeah, you could say that. But nothing’s going to come of it.”
She tsked at me, and I pictured her pointing whatever cooking utensil she was holding in the air like I was there next to her. “Kam. I don’t know why you won’t let yourself date any of these men Kinlee tries to set you up with. It’s not like you got out of a long relationship that you were happy in. You were miserable with that preppy bastard. You deserve someone better, so let yourself be happy.”
“That’s not it, Barb. This isn’t one of the guys Kinlee tried to set me up with, although she tried that this weekend again. And if I hadn’t met this other guy, I actually think I would’ve really liked to get t
o know Aiden—”
“Oh, what a great name,” she whispered.
I laughed. “But then I met Brody . . . he’s Kinlee’s brother-in-law.” Even I could hear how pathetic I sounded now.
“There’s nothing wrong with that, I’m sure Kinlee wouldn’t mind—”
“Yeah, but I’d bet his wife would,” I mumbled lamely.
“Oh, baby girl. Don’t you go getting caught up in that. Nothing good can come from that, and I raised you to be above all that nonsense.”
“I’m not, Barb. I told you, nothing’s going to come of it. And besides, I only saw him for all of two minutes.”
“So then why do you sound like your mother when I hide her Xanax?”
I laughed out loud and covered my face with my free hand when people around the coffee shop looked at me. “Oh, my God, Barb . . . you’re the one who does that?” My mom didn’t suffer from anxiety—she just liked the effect Xanax and vodka combined had on her. She was always accusing my dad of hiding the pills and would go into a faux-depressed state until they reappeared. Knowing Barbara was the one hiding them made me love her even more.
“Course I do. Now explain. Two minutes knowing a married man and you’re acting like this?”
“I—I can’t explain it without sounding crazy.”
