Page 1 of Crazy Imperfect Hearts

Chapter One

Lucas

“Bro.” Blake’s eyebrows dip low as he points to the large television hanging over the bar. “Isn’t that your ex?”

I don’t react. I’ve gotten used to the incessant teasing about myfourexes. The women I’ve left at—or near—the altar over the past decade. I casually sip my drink. “Not falling for it.”

“No, seriously,” my other brother Dallas says, looking just as puzzled as Blake as he stares behind my head. “She’s on TV.”

I whip around to see the most recent bride I jilted looking as happy as a clam at high tide.

“Hey, Calloway!” a patron in the booth next to us shouts to the guy tending bar. “Turn it up.”

The entire pub goes silent as Cooper sets the TV volume on max. There must be three dozen people here, a lot for this early on a Friday night, but the only sound comes from the television, and more specifically—the host of Entertainment Tonight.

“Senator Edwin McNally of New York has just announced the recent engagement of his twenty-eight-year-old son, Andrew—currently employed at the New York Office of the Attorney General—to twenty-six-year-old Lissa Monroe from Calloway Creek, New York. Miss Monroe is a student at NYU and bartender at a popular New York City club, where the couple apparently met last fall. The wedding date and location haven’t been announced, but my guess is it will be at Senator McNally’s home on Martha’s Vineyard.”

My entire body goes numb as the host continues to talk about the upcoming wedding as if two celebrities are getting hitched. All I can do is stare at the pictures of Lissa and her new fiancé. Did she ever look that happy with me?

“Fuck!”

I kick the leg of the table, pick up my drink and go out on the patio. Pulling a cigarette from my pack, I notice it’s equally as quiet out here. When I glance around, I see everyone staring at me.

“What?” I yell, then light up and walk over to an empty table.

People turn away and talk about me. Calloway Creek is a small town. Everyone knows my story. They all know Lissa. They know my other three exes as well. You can’t fart in this town without everyone smelling it.

Dallas appears at my table with a fresh glass of whiskey. He puts it down and slides it my way before he and Blake sit.

I stare at the glass, head shaking. “She’s been living thirty minutes away all this time.” I flick some ashes and take a drag of the cancer stick. “And she went back to school. She always said she wanted to.”

“Karma’s a bitch, eh, Montana?” Dax Cruz yells from across the patio.

Standing so fast my chair falls over, I turn, ready to throw punches.

Dallas and Blake pop out of their seats and hold me back. “Not worth it,” Blake says.

Dax laughs, raising his drink as if making a toast. “Public humiliation is just the cherry on top.”

“Don’t you have a fucking carburetor to fix?” I yell. “Maybe the car will do us all a favor and fall on your head.”

A dozen pairs of eyes bounce between Dax and me as we continue to lob vocal punches.

“Luke.” Dallas puts a firm hand on my shoulder. “Come on, man. Let’s go back inside.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Cooper Calloway says, leaning in the doorway, likely making sure things don’t get out of control. “Next one’s on me.”

I flick my cigarette across the patio, missing Dax by mere inches, before my brothers escort me inside.

On the way back to our booth, I spot Hunter McQuaid sitting with his wife and kids. I get my wallet out, fish every last dollar from it, and throw the money down in front of him.

He puts down his hamburger and stares at what is probably seven hundred dollars. “What’s this?”

“Down payment.”

“For what exactly?”

“The bet I lost.”

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