Page 10 of Grumpy Sunshine

AELLA

I watched the seriously grumpy man in jeans and a tight black t-shirt storm down the hall, knowing it was Chevy’s brother without having to be told.

The two men looked eerily similar.

Tall, gorgeous, and dark.

This one, though, I hadn’t seen before.

I wondered why.

A few minutes later, Chevy’s sister came, a frown on her face.

If I thought the brother’s frown was ferocious, though, it was nothing compared to Chevy’s.

I watched as he walked up to the board that showed his surgeries for the day, arms crossed over his chest, anger tight in his features.

What had happened?

“I’m sorry, Chevy,” Val said quietly from beside him.“I didn’t know you’d be in there with someone.”

He cursed under his breath, then said, “Sorry.It’s not your fault.I just have a friend with boundary issues, and a brother that is in love with that friend.”

Ruh-roh.

That didn’t sound good.

“Want to tell me about it?”Val asked.

Chevy sat down heavily onto a chair, and at first I thought that was a big, resoundinghell no.

But then he started talking, and I realized that he was just collecting his thoughts.

Val was one of maybe a handful of people that Chevy actually liked talking to, and if anyone could get him to talk, it was her.

I wasn’t sure why that was, but it was something I was highly interested in.

Then again, anything that had to do with Dr.Chevy Clayborne interested me.

Even that woman that he said was a friend that looked at him like he was more.

“My brother and my friend, Reign, were best friends when we were younger.When my brother went away, he tasked me with taking care of her.Honestly, I was a selfish little shit when I was younger, and didn’t much care to have anything to do with her.When we moved here, she followed, and that’s when I really started to realize that we’d just kind of forgotten her existence.One day, Copper asked about her, and I realized that I should’ve tried a little harder.I reached out, and from then on, we’ve been friends.”Chevy scrubbed his hands down his face.“Reign is a sickly woman.She’s been in and out of hospitals her entire life.And six months ago, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.I’ve been telling her to tell my brother, but she refuses, saying she doesn’t want to burden him.”

“Whoa,” she said.“Was that why her driver’s license was suspended?”

“Yeah, when you have seizures, you’re not allowed to drive, you know?”he asked.“I don’t know why she was driving today, honestly.What I do know was that she knew better.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Val said.“Are you going to tell your brother?”

“Yes,” he answered.“I’m not losing the family I just got back.”

Where had they gone if he’d just gotten them back, I wondered.I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

Though it was likely I’d never know.

I didn’t have that kind of relationship with him, and more importantly, I was a wiener when it came to talking to attractive men.

They made my tongue get all tied up in knots.

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