Page 52 of Give Me Perfect Love

How alike that girl and I are. I look down at the steps. I was an asshole to her, too. Hell, I’ve been an asshole to her since the day I met her. I think back on the first time Jace and I walked into Mugs & Books. As soon as I walked through the door, I recognized her.

How could I not?

She’d knocked the fucking air from my lungs at Red. Kathrine Harrison wasn’t just another face in the crowd. Shewasthe face in the crowd.

I keep messing up with her, though. How many times is she going to forgive me before she decides I’m not worth the trouble?

“All right.” Lou slices through my thoughts in a hunter green plaid button-up and dark jeans. She bows her head once, releasing air from her lungs. With a wistful smile, she says, “I guess I’ll be seeing you around then.”

“I don’t want you to stop visiting.”

“I won’t be a stranger, but I will give you two your space.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

She laughs, but it’s filled with unshed emotion. “I guess I’ll have to start playing bridge or something.”

I toss my head back in laughter. “Why don’t you get that old man to retire and you two do some traveling?”

“Ah, you know he loves to cook.” She waves her hand.

“He loves you more,” I say.

She smiles, her cheeks turning pink. “I won’t argue with you there.”

ChapterSixteen

Bryce

“I told you this was going to happen,” Jace says, shaking his head. Stretched pupils and quick sniffs tell me my brother is up to his old ways. This time he was straight for more than a few weeks. My kid brother has a cycle. He’ll jump on the wagon for a bit, but after a while, Jace gets sick of walking a straight line. Some would think he was a lot like our mother, but I believe the playboy troublemaker is a lot like me.

He’s hiding.

Trying to cover up what he feels by using drugs and acting out.

I do it differently.

I fight and work.

“I thought you were done with that shit,” I say, taking a seat as our mom lies in a medically induced coma to try to save her life. She’s had a stroke and her brain went a little too long without oxygen. Who knows what she’ll be like when and if she comes out of this.

“I stayed at the loft last night. Hung out with some old buddies at Red.”

I rub a hand over my face. “I’ve got enough to stress over without having to worry about you, too.”

He kicks my foot. “Don’t worry about me then.”

“Like it’s a switch I can just turn off.” I rest my elbows on my knees and exhale a tired breath, leaning my chin on my linked fingers. The smell of this place burns my nose and gives my anxiety a reason to appear. That and my knee bobbing brother.

Jace sighs and pulls a smashed soft pack out from the front pocket of his coat. “Hell, I’m starting to wonder if I need to worry about you, with your face looking like that.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, you look fine.” Sarcasm lines his tone. My little brother who isn’t so little anymore pats his cigarette pack and pulls one out with his teeth as a nurse walks in. She looks over at him. “Sir, you can’t smoke in here.”

“Really?” he questions, tilting his head, looking completely shocked, but he’s a fool and I almost chuckle because this is Jace. “When did that happen?” he asks me.

I shake my head and she rolls her eyes, clearly unimpressed with his derisive ass.

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