Page 106 of Contentious

“Don’t trip over your big vocabulary, brother. I’ve got this under control.”

“Where have I heard that before?” Ethan asked.

“From our long-lost brother Julian, who thought he had things under control, too,” Griffin said, “and now he’s a domesticated house pet with a wife and two kids.”

“They got married?” Carson asked. “How long was I out for?”

“Too long, and they’re not married yet, but all signs point to future matrimony.”

“I don’t think he’ll get married,” Carson said. “He knows better.”

“What if it’s what she wants?” Ethan asked.

“She just got out of a bad marriage,” Griffin said. “I bet it’s the last thing she wants.”

“I guess we’ll see,” Carson said, “but don’t go lumping me in with him. My situation isn’t like his.”

“Is that how you’re justifying it to yourself?” Griffin asked.

“Let’s talk about something else. This topic is boring me.” It was all any of his siblings had wanted to talk about any time they got a minute alone with him when Cresley wasn’t there, which wasn’t often. She’d set up a group of trusted friends to help with Ty so she could spend as much time with Carson as possible. Each day, she arrived shortly after dropping Ty at school and stayed until dinnertime, when she returned to the house in the canyon to spend some time with him.

Julian came in as Griffin and Ethan were about to leave.

“What’s good, boys?”

“Carson thinks he’s got this situation with Cresley under control,” Griffin said.

Julian, who looked tired and stressed, offered Carson a sympathetic smile. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

“No one trusts you on this subject anymore,” Ethan said.

“Oh well,” Julian said with a shrug. “I had a good run.”

Half an hour later, Julian and Griffin had to take off, but Ethan offered to stay for a little longer to watch the end of the Lakers game with Carson.

“So, hey,” Ethan said after a few minutes of silence. “Something happened that I think you ought to know about.”

“What’s that?”

“Cresley’s friend Marlene…”

“What about her?”

“We met at The Roxy the night Jules’s band played. You and Cresley had already left. I didn’t know who Marlene was… and we hooked up. I found out who she was to Cresley when I got here after hearing you’d been stabbed. I almost had a heart attack when I saw her sitting next to Cresley.”

“Jeez, man. Of all the women in all the world…”

“I know! How do you think I felt when I realized that she’s your girlfriend’s bestie?”

“So by ‘hooked up,’ you mean…”

“She spent the night at my place. We had a lot of fun.”

“And then what?”

“Nothing, man. It was a one-night thing. No big deal.”

“Does she know that?”