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“Because of Birdie,” she said.
“There is no Birdie,” he lied. There was a Birdie, and the great big fucking hole in his chest told him exactly what she’d left behind by leaving him.
“Let her go. Don’t let Jolena stop you from loving someone and having a future together.”Birdie had said those words to him last night.
“Mom—”
“We put two and two together and worked out that horrid Jolena did a number on you, and J.D. confirmed that.”
“You told them about Jolena?” He glared at his friend.
“You came home with her name on your arm, dude. They were gonna be curious. Plus, your mom’s right, you’re grumpier than you were when I first met you in LA. I didn’t have much to go by because, let’s face it, you’re shut up like a jar of Cill’s massage oil. Those suckers are a killer to open. But I know Jolena put you through shit—”
“What shit?” his mother asked.
“Nothing, and you don’t say shit ever.” He glared at her.
His mother gave him a hard stare that would have had him squirming if he had the energy. “The moment called for it. Now you need to talk, Sawyer.”
“You should have told them by now, bud,” J.D. said. “I kept your secret, but it’s time. That crap is festering inside you.”
He’d not wanted anyone involved in the backlash after he’d ended things with Jolena and she’d gone crazy, so he’d kept quiet. He’d put it behind him and told his family nothing, but they knew him. Knew he was hiding something, but they hadn’t pushed.
“What’s the deal with you and Birdie?”
At J.D.’s words, his fingers clenched around the mug of coffee.
“No deal.”
His friend finished the last bite of his breakfast. Placed his knife and fork neatly together. He then turned to impale Sawyer with a look he’d once used in the boardroom.
“I don’t like to think about you and her, but if those demons you were running from stop you from having something with Birdie, which she wants to”—J.D. looked like he wanted to be sick at the thought of him and Birdie together. Sawyer could sympathize—“then you need to sort it. It’s time.”
“We’re not involved.”
“Really? Nina told me about last night. You jumping the fence in the middle of the game to get to her because she was upset. You, going at her for taking off her shirt with the other girls. You glaring at her at Circle Left. Then there’s the conversation I just had with her on the phone about how she wants to hand in her notice.”
Chapter33
Birdie had handed in her notice. Sawyer hadn’t thought she’d move that fast.
“Her debt is paid off, so she wants to travel.” His voice was cold and hard. It should have warned them off. It didn’t.
“You paid off her debt, just to be clear,” J.D. said.
Sawyer nodded. He felt numb inside, which was weird, because he’d thought he was pretty much that way all the time since LA. Not much excited him or got him emotional.Except Birdie.
She’d changed him, he’d just not realized it.
“Jesus, fuck!” was followed by a loud thud from the direction of his front door and barking from his dogs, which made Sawyer’s skull hurt.
“All right, Rye?” his mother yelled, making him wince again. How she knew those two words had come from Ryder, Sawyer had no idea, but she could always tell the difference between her sons.
“Yeah, but now, as well as a sore head, I have sore knees. Who the fuck put those boots there?”
His brother wandered in, pale, his eyes bloodshot, wearing a shirt inside out and back to front because the tag was under his chin. Creased shorts and bare feet.
“Come and sit, honey. I’ll make you something,” their mother said.
