Page 15 of My Ex's Brothers

I settle on grabbing just the basics—milk, bread, eggs, some cereal, some bottles of water and bottled iced coffees since I don’t have a coffee maker…

Despite my fussy baby, I’m able to get all of my items into the cart, along with some impulse buys. Some squeeze tubes of yogurt for Lyla and some chocolate-covered pretzels for me.

“Shhh…” I jiggle the cart, but she isn’t having any of it, and the woman ahead of me shoots us both a glare. A few aisles down, I can see a group of college kids, but I don’t pay attention to them. They’re filming, laughing, and the last thing I want to deal with is a group of twenty-somethings. Especially with my screaming child. I pick up my daughter, bouncing her and hoping she’ll settle long enough that I can put her down and load the belt up before the woman leaves…

“Hey,” someone calls, and just as I think the person behind me is going to curse me out for my disruption, I turn to see a familiar face in a crowd of otherwise unfamiliar faces.

“Tripp?” I ask, startled. Out of all Dex’s siblings, Tripp, number 3 for Roosevelt University’s Rabid Raccoons, is the one I know the least.

For starters, he’s their stepbrother, and is the youngest of the bunch at twenty-four. And secondly, I’ve only met him once.

Still, he’s hard not to notice. Where the Rose brothers all have the same sort of look—same large frames, same jawline and dark eyes—Tripp is a breath of fresh air. He’s leaner, paler, and those bright blue eyes match well with his dark reddish brown hair and his boyish smile. Everything about him screamstwenty-four, from his perfect canines to his backward hat and his tight polo.

I swear I would have eaten up a boy like Tripp back in high school. He’s just got that air about him, like Dex, but not…cocky.

“Hey!” he says with a bright smile, reaching to hug me and Lyla.

“Shit, is this my stepniece?” he says, then immediately slaps his hand over his mouth. His friends laugh, their tones warm and deep.

“It’s okay,” I say honestly. “Kinda hard to avoid sometimes.”

Tripp smiles, reaching out to stroke Lyla’s cheek. “She’s so…little,” he says in awe, and I have to wonder if he’s ever even held a baby before.

“She’ll get bigger eventually,” I tease as I prop her on my hip.

“Do you need some help?” he asks, looking from my cart to the baby in my arms, to my one hand trying to place items on the belt.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude. You’re with your friends, and?—”

Tripp shrugs. “So?” Before I can open my mouth, he turns to his friends. “Catch up with you guys at the rink?”

One of his friends—a tall boy with dark curly hair and equally dark eyes—shrugs, crossing his arms. “Whatever.”

His other friends grunt in response, smacking him on the back as they call out, “See you later, bruh,” like it’s a prayer, but Tripp doesn’t let up from loading the conveyor even as they pat him on the back.

“You really don’t have to—” I say as the cashier starts to ring things up.

“It’s cool, don’t worry about it. I’ll catch up with them later.”

When he’s finished, he reaches for Lyla, startling me.

“Can I?”

“Have you ever held a baby before?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. I don’t miss the momentary hurt in his eyes, but he covers it up quickly.

“Of course,” he says, the hurt in his voice just as evident. I let out a sigh. I shouldn’t have assumed…

I carefully pass her off and watch as his eyes widen along with his mouth. Lyla smiles instantly when she looks at him, all screaming ceasing into loud bouts ofgiggles.

“I think she likes me,” Tripp says, sticking his tongue out, and for a moment I feel relieved.

“Yeah, looks like she does,” I say with a sigh. My heart skips a beat as I watch Tripp bounce her, making faces. I’m forced to turn away when the cashier tells me my total.

One hundred and nineteen dollars and forty-three cents.

I sigh, the imperativeness of finding a job weighing on me more than ever. I hand the cashier my credit card and she scans it as I turn to smile at Tripp and the bagger starts to bag up my lot.

“I’m sorry, but the card is declined. Do you have another one you would like to try?”

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