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“It was Asher who taught her to believe,” Merit countered.
“You believe in that soulmate crap, too?”
His brother shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”
“That’s rich coming from the guy who has a different woman every week.”
“You telling me you’ve been celibate since your last engagement ended?”
Loyal’s turn to shrug as he continued eating.
“Yeah, didn’t think so. We’re all searching, aren’t we? Some of us just look at more options than others.”
He laughed and shook his head.
“Listen, you asked what I thought about Roxanna and I told you. If you want proof one way or the other, have her do a reading for you.”
“Who’s to say she won’t just make shit up? That’s exactly what they do on those hotlines.”
“You say. You’ll know. She’s not a hotline, and you’d be face to face.”
Yeah, which is why she told me she can’t read me. She knows I’ll know it’s bullshit.
“Look, I know you got majorly screwed over with Lisa, but she was definitely not the woman for you. She was way too self-centered.”
Loyal pondered that truth as he munched more fries.
“What?” Merit feigned surprise. “No smartass takes one to know one comment?”
“Nope. I’m letting that one slide. Especially since I know you’re right about Lisa. Last I heard, she married Jeff Richmond. I don’t know who I feel more sorry for.”
“I heard about that, too. They’re actually quite perfect for each other. Richmond got his trophy wife, and she’ll get to do whatever she wants while he screws around on the side.”
Loyal dropped the last bite of his burger down into the basket, his appetite suddenly gone. “How the fuck did I end up engaged to her?”
“You were climbing the ladder of success.” Merit gave him a grim grin around another mouthful of burger. “Workin’ on The Plan.”
“I guess I was.” He’d reworked his plan the day he hadn’t gotten married, only right now, he wasn’t so sure he liked where burying himself in work had gotten him. Burned out. Missing family. Taking out his unhappiness on people who may or may not deserve it.
Well, he was home now, and he could change some of what he didn’t like about the past six years.
Roxanna was a whole other matter. He wanted her out of his head, but he couldn’t help returning to her words last night. It bothered him that he may have hurt her over the years, and yet with his next breath, he’d remind himself of her drunken dig about his fiancés, him not being worthy, and her sober punch to the gut this morning about Grayson.
Most disturbing was the urge to find her and kiss any thoughts of his half-brother right out of her head. When he was done, his name would be the only one she spoke from those wine-flavored lips of hers.
His pulse picked up, and he grimaced while grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth and hands as Merit finished his food. He paid their bill with a generous tip, then Loyal followed his brother out the door as he pulled his keys from his pocket.
“Hey. You and Bells want help at headquarters this afternoon?”
“We’ll be making personal phone calls to connect with the base, so do you really have to ask?”
“Apparently, you like to be asked.”
Merit shot him a sideways glance. “I bare my soul to you and you mock me. Fuck you, man.”
“What time?” When his brother’s face screwed up into an exaggerated expression of horror, Loyal backhanded him on the arm. “Gross. What time are you meeting Bells, dipshit.”
Merit chuckled as he headed for his vehicle. “One-forty-five.”
