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“We can?”
“Yep.”
We lapse into comfortable silence as I complete Sawyer’s tattoo, and when Harlow excuses herself to the restroom, I fill Sawyer in on my thoughts. He’s down, of course, and gets busy on his phone sorting things out while I finish up. Once he’s wrapped, we head back to the apartment building, but instead of following them into theirs, I kiss Harlow lightly and head into my own place. As much as I’d rather be with Harlow, there’s some other stuff I need to sort out first.
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Liv says lightly as I close the door behind me. She and Eli are on the sofa with the TV playing quietly in front of them, although they’re both turned to look at me now.
“Hey,” I greet them warmly. I haven’t seen them together in a while, only having seen Eli sporadically as each of us are passing through. “What were you saying?”
She echoes my thoughts. “Just that we haven’t seen you around for a while. You wanna hang out?”
“Sorry, I can’t. I’m taking Harlow away,” I explain as I make my way to my bedroom to get a bag together.
“Oh, nice,” Liv says with a smile, but Eli bristles.
“Are you gonna bother to say more than two words to us at any point? How are you, brother? What’s going on in your life?”
I don’t know why he’s being such an ass. He disappeared from the face of the earth when he started dating Liv and is around as little as I am anyway. Whatever the reason, I’m not here for it, and I don’t have the time nor the patience to placate him.
“I’m taking my girlfriend away before we start training for The Games, which, by the way, have been brought forward so they’re now in six weeks, and we’re entering with the Seconds on Monday. That enough of an update for you?”
They gape at me, and I turn back to go pack my bag. When I come out, Eli is standing.
“Look, man, I’m sorry. I just miss you, ya know? That’s a hell of an update.”
“Yeah, and I’m gonna miss you both,” Liv says from the couch.
“Both?” I ask her.
“Eli’s got to head off for work, too, so he’ll only be back on the weekends for a while.”
“Oh, you didn’t mention it,” I snark back, annoyed that he’s tried to make me feel bad for not sharing everything.
“When would I?” he asks petulantly, but that’s bullshit.
“I have seen you, and you do have my number,” I remind him.
“Pot, kettle.”
“Alright,” Liv sighs. “You both know now.”
“Yeah,” I grumble, not having the time to catch up properly right now, but I guess I can try to make nice. “I’m heading out, but I’ll see you next weekend. Maybe we grab drinks?”
“It’s a plan,” Eli agrees.
I go back across the hall and let myself in to see Harlow watching her bedroom with a curious look on her face.
“What’s he doing in there?” she asks, but I push a finger to my lips as I make my way over to her. Instead of kissing her like I normally would, I bend to lift her over my shoulder, and she squeals.
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m stealing you,” I tell her casually as I head back to the door, my bag in my hand.
“But Sawyer—”
“Is coming,” he says from behind me as he pulls the bedroom door open. I lead us down to the car and only place Harlow down when I can lower her straight into the passenger seat. Then I drop a soft kiss to her lips and close the door on her confused expression. I throw my bag in the back, along with the two Sawyer has packed for himself and Harlow, and climb into the driver’s seat.
“What’s going on?” Harlow asks as Sawyer and I clip our seatbelts, getting comfy for the drive.
