Page 69 of Clubs

Still hugging me close, in my ear, Nix whispered, “Cousins. They were cousins.”

He remembered. He read my mind, which I did not like, but he remembered.

Before I could pull back to look at him, another crash slammed into my side. The girl, from the other side of the bar. Her arms were around me, and she was squeezing, and I couldn’t breathe, but it was the best feeling I had felt in so long.

I wasn’t alone. For the first time in so long, I wasn’t alone.

Eventually pulling back, the girl smiled up at me. “You’re taller now.”

“Or you’re shorter.” I smiled back, but it wasn’t the warm smile I’d given a moment prior, because I was really beginning to struggle to breathe. “That’s who you are? Véa?”

“That’s who I was.” Finally releasing me, enabling Nix to do the same, she gestured to the counter. “Let’s get something to eat and catch up. Baby, put the closed sign on the door. And I go by Laila now, by the way.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

DECLAN

“Hm.” Crossing his arms, Nix, who I now knew was Jeremy, leaned back in his seat. The same guy who lifted my girlfriend off the ground and spun her in a circle like they were in some sort of Hallmark movie just moments ago. “So you guys didn’t come to catch up. Just here to see what we can do for you.”

“Sorry,” Brooke murmured. It almost sounded like she meant it, too. When she told me she was sorry, there was always a hint of sarcasm, but with these people, she felt right at home. Like she did when she was spending time with Ria.

Which I supposed made sense. Telepathically, she had told me that Jeremy had been one of her childhood best friends in the dreams she had been having. In fairness, there didn’t seem to be any attraction on either of their parts, but damn it. With almost no thought, no effort, she connected with him in a way she never had with me, and I couldn’t pretend like I wasn’t jealous of that.

Then again, maybe she had more room to be jealous than I did. Because the guy who had picked me up in a bear hug—which was really saying something—hadn’t left my side either. We were seated at a booth in a corner of the restaurant, and his knee was flush with mine. Brooke was on my right, and on the other side of the table, were Laila and Jeremy. Each of them bounced a toddler on their knee, and the guy on my right, Wyatt, had one on his, too.

Which was bizarre. I didn’t know anyone with kids, and they kept looking at me. What was I supposed to say to the little shits?

This was bizarre.

The strangest part of it was the fact that I understood why Brooke felt so familial with these people. Because I wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by this stranger’s knee against mine. The child staring at me was another story, but the guy was sitting so close, he was almost in my lap, and… it felt natural.

I wasn’t much of a touchy-feely person, but I kinda liked it. Not in a sexual way, of course, but in the sense that it felt… like home. Sitting beside him felt like sitting beside Emory.

“Cousins,” Laila said, giving me a smile. She gestured between me and Wyatt. “You two were cousins. More like brothers, really. Your mom, she took him in when he was a baby, so you guys were raised as siblings.”

“Can we stay on topic?” Jeremy asked. “They committed a murder today, and they’ve got a cop tied up in their restaurant.”

“Bar, actually,” Brooke said. “Technically, we didn’t commit murder. We just covered it up.”

“Hey, I am one-hundred percent cool with not changing the topic,” Wyatt said, playfully elbowing me in the ribs. He had a smile that was half boyish, half contagious. “So you don’t remember that at all?”

I tried to smile back. That was the friendly thing to do. But this was fucking weird. All I could do was shake my head.

Wyatt didn’t seem to care. That big smile, those warm brown eyes, and his matching brown skin were all so familiar, they triggered something, some urge to open up, but no memories. I may have been uncomfortable, but so far, I was enjoying his company. “That’s okay. The memories will come with time. It wasn’t until—What was it? Almost two years ago now? A year and a half or so, we’ll go with that. That’s when I got my memories. It’s eye-opening, but no need to rush anything. We’ve all got time.”

“Topic.” Jeremy’s voice was firm, eyes shifting around the table. “Let’s stay on it.”

“Jeremy’s right.” Standing, Laila lifted the toddler to her hip. A little blonde boy, which was odd given the fact that they were both brunettes. “I’ll go get to work. Find someone to watch the kids, would you?”

Jeremy stood as well, situating the napping toddler better in his arm—a little girl, this one looking like she did belong to both of them—and struggled the other one into his free arm. “Yeah, you’re needed more than I am anyway.”

“And I am not needed,” Wyatt said. “Put those two in the game room in the back, and I’ll watch them while you’re gone.” He turned to me, giving that big smile again. “But you, sir, we’re getting a drink tonight.”

“At Spades,” Brooke said. She returned that smile, and my god, it was the strangest thing.

Suddenly, she was like a whole other person. There was a certain softness in her demeanor, everything from the way that she talked, to the way that she held herself, changed in a blink. It wasn’t that dramatized show she had put on for Detective Tyler yesterday. It was natural.

Was this what she had been like then? When we fell in love for the first time, was she softer than I knew her to be now? Was that why there was so often tension in our relationship this time around?

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