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“Not with one brother breaking up while the other is finding love. The press loves a good story, a juicy fight, sibling rivalry. This will give them all of that,”
“You think dating Hope will help alleviate that?”
“It would be better than us breaking up or denying the statement. It would only cause more interest, not less. The best way out of this is through.”
“How very Zen of you.” Walker muttered.
“You don’t agree?”
“No. I don’t like that JD’s love life or lack thereof causes issues in your life, or Hope’s. I like it even less that we’re having this conversation before I’ve had my second cup of coffee. I can see your point. I can see the headlines of you two looking forlorn anytime you aren’t beaming for a camera. Neither one of you needs that. Do you think you can get Hope to agree to it?”
“Brother, I can be very persuasive when I want to be,” I said, looking at him sideways.
“I don’t want to know.”
“Is it ideal? Probably not. Is it the best option? Possibly. Will it work? That’s anyone’s guess. If Hope is willing to do this, then we will.”
“What are your intentions with Hope?” Walker asked, glaring at me.
“Are you her father?”
“No, and I’ve never met him, but I could see Cole wanting to kick your ass if you did anything to hurt Hope.”
“I have no intention of hurting Hope. I want what’s best for her, above all else,” I said.
“Okay,” Walker said slowly.
“It’ll be fine. Trust me.”
“I do, brother. More so than you’ll ever know,” he said.
“The feeling is mutual, brother,” I said and held his gaze.
Walker and I hadn’t gotten along very well when we were younger and there were times like this when our egos got the best of us but we were working on building a better relationship. His statement, and mine, was a way to help work on that.
“Thank you for your concern but leave this to me. I’m going to call JD and more than likely wake him up and have a slightly uncomfortable conversation with him.”
“Have fun with that. I’ll be around all day if you need to talk and if you could update me,” Walker said.
“Will do,” I replied and reached for my phone.
By the time JD answered the call, none too happily, Walker had left the office.
“What did I do now?” JD asked instead of saying hello.
“Haven’t you figured out how to end things with a woman and really end them?” I asked.
“Lizbeth is a tyrant. She doesn’t take no for an answer. She thinks if she tells the world we are dating then we are. Too bad I don’t agree.”
“Is it really over this time? Do you think she got the hint?” I asked.
“I leaked it to every news outlet, social media influencer, gossiper, and person on the street that I could. If the woman can use social media to try to keep us together, I can use it to keep us apart. Give me a minute. Let me see how it is going,” he said.
I could hear him rolling over in bed and reaching for his phone. I leaned back in my chair and opened my emails. I was deleting the ones I didn’t need to deal with and was planning the rest of my day when JD’s voice came through.
“Well, it looks like I’m not the main news story on all the gossip sites today. Way to go, Mac. You sly dog.”
“It’s still up?” I asked.
