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ChapterFifteen
Tyler
“Who in the hell does she think she is?”
My two brothers look on in fascination. They’ve been nearly silent for the past half hour as I ranted on and on about Olivia and her scheme. I can’t stop myself. Finally, I turn and look at them. The two men are sitting in my library with their legs propped up, drinks in their hands, and ridiculously silly grins on their faces. Whatever happened to brotherly solidarity?
“Are you going to silently sit there all night or are you going to give me some input?” I snap.
“Well, considering you haven’t given us two seconds to give anyinput, we thought we’d sit here,” Blake says and takes another swig of his scotch.
“I’m giving you time now,” I shout.
“We don’t know who she is. I met her for about two seconds, but I wasn’t exactly in the best mood or on my best behavior then. I suggest you find out about the little tease,” Byron says.
“What? The two of you are all happy and in committed relationships, so you think my disastrous love life is entertaining?”
Blake guffaws. “Now that you mention it, it is pretty entertaining.”
“This is BS!”
I march over to the bar and snag another beer from the refrigerator. It’s been a month since Olivia’s stunt and I’m still furious. I thought I’d be over it by now. I’m determined to forget all about her. But a month later I’m still dreaming of the wretched woman, still wanting to know what in the hell went wrong. More importantly, I’m trying to figure out why in the world I give a damn about any of it. Screw her. Well, I tried...
“Tyler, you’ve gone off every few days about this woman since the moment you met her,” Byron says. “It’s been a few weeks since she walked away from here, and you still haven’t forgotten her. Maybe it’s time you to do something about it.”
“I want to erase her and her effed-up games from my brain,” I say, “but you’re right. I haven’t been able to do that, so I think that might be the wrong choice.”
“Haven’t you always been the easygoing brother,” Blake asks, “the happy one, the one who wants to find true love and live happily ever after?”
“That was before I met the woman before this one, the woman I thought I’d marry. Now I’m confronted with another wreck, more proof that females are deadlier than males,” I snap. “They’re all worthless. Who needs them?”
“Don’t let one woman, or even two, change your identity,” Blake tells me. “Byron and I spent far too many years being testosterone-crazed assholes. You’re a good guy, Tyler. This woman could be a complete bitch, or she could have a story. You’re never going to know if you don’t see this thing through, figure out why she did what she did.”
“And if I find out that it really was her idea of a game, that she’s actually nothing more than a cheap hussy?”
“Here’s what you do if you find out the worst. You don’t let one disastrous encounter — okay, a second disastrous encounter — ruin you for all future women.”
“Weren’t you being a complete douche to McKenzie just a few months ago?” I ask.
“Yeah, I was,” Byron admits with a shake of his head. “And I almost lost her because of it. Don’t be an idiot like me.”
“Or me,” Blake adds.
“Dammit! I want to forget about this woman.”
“Yeah, if life were that easy, there wouldn’t be so many shrinks out there,” Blake says.
“Ha, ha. Very funny,” I snap again.
“Look, bro, all kidding aside, find out this woman’s story,” Blake tells me. “Maybe she has a damn good reason for doing what she did.”
“I can’t see any justifiable reason for someone doing what she did,” I mumble. But my temper’s finally beginning to die down as I begin to plan my strategy.
“You never know, Ty,” Byron says. “In the eyes of the world, you’re not exactly a guy bent on monogamy. You’re constantly featured in gossip magazines as a playboy extraordinaire. We all went that route. None of us gave a damn what people thought about us. But I’ll grant you this — you actually cared about your neighbors, and you’ve sacrificed to make this world a better place. The same can’t be said about Byron or me. We were dicks.”
“Hey! I resent that,” Byron interjects. Blake simply raises an eyebrow. And Byron smiles.
“Okay, so I resemble that remark. Iwasa dick. But McKenzie’s turned me into a better man.”
