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I sigh. “Got any other ideas?”
“I don’t know. Are you willing to part with a significant amount of money? Maybe for a cool mill, Lucas won’t hate you as much.”
“I’m serious.”
“I was also serious, but okay, no to the money.” He’s silent for a second before he speaks again. “What would you do if one of your friends…or I went after Rebecca?”
“Wish you good luck? And also, that is very different. We were married and we have two children. Lucas and Avery have never been romantically involved.”
“Fine, but you get the point I’m making. This is a bad idea and it’s going to change your whole relationship with your son. Is that what you want? Not to mention what happens if and when things get more serious. What, Avery is going to be Lucas and Rae’s stepmom? Or if you two have a baby? He would have been in love with the mother of his half-sibling? Is that incest? It feels incest-y.”
“We are a long way off from marriage and a baby.” Even though the thought of her walking around with a cute little baby bump and my ring on her finger is triggering my possessiveness.
“But it’s something you’re thinking about. That’s the only reason you’re considering telling Lucas.” I sigh, not knowing what to say to that when he speaks up again. “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind about this and there’s no way I can talk you out of it, so what I am going to say is tell him before he finds out on his own. If he catches you, it’ll be ten times worse.”
“He’s in New York now.”
“Okay, but you and Avery are still in Philly, where he still has connections. What if it somehow gets back to him if you two are spotted out somewhere?”
“We are avoiding going public for now.”
“Because you know it’s shady.”
“You know for someone who rarely gives a fuck what anyone thinks, you’re being awfully tough on me,” I scoff.
“One, you’re not me, and two, I always gave a fuck what my immediate family thought.” I snort, remembering more than one screaming match between him and our dad. “Don’t bring up Dad; he can be a dick and you know it.”
“Because you’re cut from the same cloth, but we are digressing.”
“The point is, you want to be able to be with Avery and also maintain a relationship with Lucas. There’s a good chance you can’t have both. And let’s say you tell Lucas and he fucking loses it and you decide it’s not worth it so you break things off with Avery, your relationship with Lucas is still forever fucked because you stuck your dick somewhere it did not belong.”
I sigh in frustration because none of this is helpful. “So, the trade off is what? I don’t get what I want?”
“What, young pussy? Theo, don’t bullshit me. Find someone else.”
“It’s not like that.”
“What’s it like then? Enlighten me.” I swallow the words sitting in the back of my throat, not wanting to speak them aloud in fear of what it means. “Oh shit,” he says. “You’re falling for her, aren’t you?”
I sit on the couch in the corner of my office and place my phone on speakerphone before lying on my back and closing my eyes. I was not expecting this conversation with Bryan, although I should have and I’m suddenly exhausted. “I don’t know…maybe.”
“Not good enough.”
“Get off my back, Bryan,” I snap at him. “I haven’t been serious with anyone since Rebecca. I don’t even know how this shit works anymore.”
“Sure, you do. You’ve always been a hopeless romantic and all that shit. That’s why Rebecca fucked you up.” Bryan has never been quiet about his feelings for Rebecca or his distaste for how she treated me. I’m pretty sure he told her off more times during our divorce than I did. I think about them seeing each other for the first time at Raegan’s wedding and I know that’s not going to be pretty. “How does she feel about you?”
I think about our last weekend together, how she looked at me, and the things she said and did and I want to believe she feels the same. “I think she wants me too.” I clear my throat. “Beyond the sex.” I stare up at the ceiling, trying to put my very confused thoughts into words. “I haven’t felt this way in a long time. Maybe I’ve never felt this way.” I confess, because this feels different than it did with the only other woman I’ve been serious with. “Maybe because I’m older now. She’s just different. I don’t know exactly what it is, but I just fuckingwanther.”
“Uh huh,” I hear the skepticism in those two syllables and I roll my eyes. “She’s a good kid and cute as hell. Speaking as your older brother, good for you. Speaking as Lucas’ uncle, you kind of suck.” I roll my eyes just as I hear a knock on my door.
Very fucking grateful for the interruption, I sit up. “Listen, thanks for nothing. I got to go, I’ll call you later.”
“Alright, talk to you later.” He hangs up and I open the door to find Avery looking fucking delicious holding a coffee in her hand and a bag in the other.
“Special delivery.” She smiles and hands them out to me.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, trying to hide the smile and also prevent my dick from getting hard as I stare at her bare legs under a black mini-skirt.
