Page 61 of Bought and Broken

“Where have you been?” I ask.

He rolls off me, lying on his back beside me. I shove my hair out of my face and sit up.

“And what has you in such a good mood?” I add. My brother hasn’t woken me up like this in years. Meaning, he certainly doesn’t know a thing about me and Tate.

“I got home late last night from a last-minute business trip. How was your weekend with Summer?”

I shrug. “It was fine. Astrid is getting big. How was yours?”

“Not at all what it was supposed to be, but it worked out, I guess. Get this. One of the models was all fucked up on pills, so she broke into one of the warehouses to steal shit to sell.”

“Oh my god, seriously?”

He puts his hands behind his head and nods.

“Yeah, Dad is pissed, obviously. I handled it though, since he wasn’t around. Earned me some points, so that’s good.”

I shake my head. “You shouldn’t be so consumed with work, Dane. You act like you’re forty.”

“I like it. Makes me feel important.”

“You are important, dork.”

He rolls his eyes. “To someone other than my family.”

The door squeaking pulls my attention, and in walks Tatum, all nonchalantly. I freeze. When he realizes I’m not alone, he freezes too, hand still on the doorknob.

“Do you normally walk into my sister’s room without knocking?” Dane asks but doesn’t sound mad. More curious.

“Heard your voice,” Tate says, eyes on him and completely ignoring me.

It stings. And that sting is all the reminder I need of why this won’t work out. No matter how much Tate is nice to me when it’s just us, he can’t be that way in the real world. I only wish I knew why… Actually, maybe I don’t want to know why. Because I think that truth will hurt.

“Are we still going to breakfast or what?” Tate asks when Dane doesn’t say anything else.

“Shit, I forgot about that.” He gives me a sympathetic look.

“Don’t look at me like that, Dane. Just go. I’ll be here when you get back.”

He jumps on me, putting all his weight on me and squeezing. He never told me why he was in such a good mood…

“Love you,” he says when he gets up, then moves past Tate to leave the room.

He doesn’t spare me a glance as he follows after my brother.

“I feel like this is all a really bad idea,” I say, leaning back on my hands.

“No, sweetie, you have to go slow,” Summer says to Astrid, who is painting my toenails. Summer puts her hand over Astrid’s and shows her how to move the brush slower, so it doesn’t get everywhere. Astrid smiles as Summer helps her figure it out. “Now you do it,” Summer adds.

Astrid tries again but huffs out an annoyed sound then goes nuts all over my toe like she did before.

Summer gives me a look that says sorry, and I just shrug.

Astrid gets one foot done, then half of the other before she takes off to play in her room.

“So, what do you think about this being a terrible idea?” I say when Summer picks up the nail polish and finishes painting my toes.

“I think you need to stop worrying about it, go with it, and see what happens. Have you found a place yet?”

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