Page 51 of Nothing to Do

“Struan?”

“They’re identical twins,” Roxie said, full of glee. “It’s so cool, right?”

Now that she mentioned it… Yes, the guy there had the same height as Roman, the same face, but his stature, the way he was put together… and there was something astute in those eyes. Okay, so she’d only been exposed to Roman for a short time, but already she didn’t get the same impression from the guy over there, on the other side of their seafood bonanza.

Another cursory glance, but the other guy… She narrowed her eyes on him. Why was that face familiar? Ah, from Roman’s meltdown in the dining room.

“And that is Struan’s best friend, Tripp Breckenridge.”

“Tripp is everyone’s best friend,” Roxie said, sidling away from her own guy to put an arm around the smoldering man nearest Struan.

Attractive, yes, she immediately got confidence, yet there was an ease about him too. So effortless. He was just there, and damn if he didn’t know it. Rumpled shirt, finger-combed hair that curled around his ears, the man suckered her in just by standing there.

“Tripp Breckenridge…” she murmured.

It wasn’t just the face, it was…

“You’re Thom Redrick’s ex.” Hers wasn’t the only jaw to fall at Tripp’s deep, cool words. “How is he?”

“You…” Roxie backed off to look at him and then at Zairn. “Between the two of you, I think you know every person on the planet.”

“How do you do that?” Dyce asked. “You didn’t tell me she—”

“I never forget a face or a body,” Tripp said, fixated on her. “They gave him the New York transfer, and you stayed put.”

“Yes.”

“And no one could quite figure out why—”

“Rigley and Klein.”

“Ah,” he said, his head going back. “That’ll do it.”

“I wanna know the gossip,” Roxie said, creeping back to Tripp. “What happened at Rigley and Klein? Doesn’t Lilya know someone there?”

Zairn caught the back of her neck to yank her against him. “One problem at a time, Lola.”

“You think you can fix Richard Rigley?”

“No one can fix Richard Rigley,” Zairn said. “Roman on the other hand…”

“You think he’s fixable?” Zane asked, guiding her to the table. No one was sitting. It was a buffet. Plates, food, pitchers of cocktails. “Didn’t we try that already?”

“No one in the world is more ready to wash their hands of Roman than me,” Struan said, “but you know how this works, it’s not just about him.”

“It’s not just about him?” she heard her voice. Sometimes keeping it in her head was impossible. “I’m sure he would disagree. Your brother seems like the type who believes everything is about him.”

“Oh, I know a lot of those guys,” Roxie said, her head bobbing. “And I have to say, she’s right. That’s why he thinks he can get away with bullshit like the other night.”

“So what’s left? We’ve put him through rehab,” Zane said. “You want to do that again?”

“He can’t live the rest of his life in rehab,” Zairn said.

Was that an absolute?

“This is a setback,” Struan said. “What the fuck was Deacon thinking?”

“What was Logan thinking? Why didn’t we get a heads-up?”

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