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“He’s been an ass lately,” Merrick says, not bothering to lower his voice.
“Merrick.” Brooks’s voice is laced with anger.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart.” I hear Declan telling his daughter. “I think Palmer has plans.”
“Palmer, do you have plans?” Blakely asks.
“I have a lot of work to do. I’ll get with Ramsey and your dad, and we’ll find a date that works for all of us to have another girls’ night.”
“Okay. Can we do it soon? I’m surrounded by boys,” Blakely says, sounding fourteen, not four, and she rolls her eyes.
“I promise.”
That seems to appease her. “Daddy, I’m starving. My belly has been yelling at me for a long, long time.”
Declan laughs and kisses her cheek. “Well, we better feed your belly then.” He gets to work making her a plate. “Merrick,” Declan says. “Grab a plate, and let’s go.”
“I’m good here,” he says, swinging his feet where he sits on the counter.
“Merrick,” Brooks grits out.
“Come on, Mer, let’s go tell the others it’s ready.” Carol appears out of nowhere and nods toward the back door.
“I miss all the good stuff,” he grumbles, jumping off the counter, sliding his arm around his mom’s shoulders, and following Declan and Blakely out the door.
“Palmer?”
“We can’t do this here, Brooks. Your brothers, they know, and your mom? Does your mom know about us?” I hiss.
“No, but she can read the room, baby. She knew I was ready to rip Merrick’s head off.”
“You can’t do that. We can’t do this.”
“What?” He steps toward me, apparently no longer worried about needing to keep space between us.
“This” I wave between us. “We can’t keep doing this.”
“I’m going to need you to spell this out for me, Palmer. Say what you mean.”
“I mean, I can’t do this anymore.” I fight hard to hold back my tears. I will not let him see me cry. I have to be strong. “We said it was for fun. You did what you set out to do and then some. Now, it’s just getting way too complicated.”
“Complicated?”
“Yes. Complicated. We have to stop.”
“No.” His voice is firm. “We don’t.”
“I’m not discussing this with you right now. Someone is going to come in and hear us.”
“Oh, we’re talking about this. Where is this coming from? Just out of the blue? Wait, you’ve been blowing me off,” he says as the realization of my actions over the last few weeks sets in.
Did you hear that loud crack? That’s my heart, shattering into millions of tiny pieces, just like I knew it would.
“So what? You’ve just been stringing me along?” he asks, his voice rising.
“No. That’s not This thing between us has run its course.”
“Run its course?” he repeats. “Look me in the eyes, Palmer.” He steps closer, and I have to bite my cheek to keep a sob from breaking free from my chest. His index finger lifts my chin so we’re looking eye to eye. “Tell me now. Tell me what you want to say.”
