Page 183 of Mr. Infuriating

“Please. She’s got a dude over. We haven’t even been broken up forty-eight hours, and she’s already dating someone else.”

“But you just said she was supposed to tutor Brayden tonight. I doubt she made plans with such short notice.”

I dropped my head onto my forearms on the bar.

“Even worse—it’s a booty call!”

Derrick made a show of looking at his watch.

“At eight o’clock?”

“It could happen! She’s gotta work in the morning.”

My little brother pursed his lips and rolled his eyes.

“I seriously doubt that. You’re getting yourself all worked up over something you don’t even know is real. I think the better question is, why do you care? You don’t want to be with her, remember? Or is this a case ofI don’t want her, but I don’t want anyone else to have her either?”

“I do want her!”

He crossed his arms and glared at me.

“So, what are you gonna do about it?”

I took another drink and grumbled, “Not a goddamn thing. Just drink and be miserable.”

Derrick nodded to my near-empty glass.

“You’re off to a good start.”

Chapter Seventy-Seven

Gretchen

“Troy saidwhat?” Laura screeched as she picked her martini glass up from the lacquered high-top table where we were perched in Louie’s Bar and Pub. One of the few alternatives to Flannigan’s available in Lancastle, although the Sunday crowd was thin compared to the cars in Flannigan’s parking lot.

I didnotlook for a black F150 when we drove by.

“He said he knows he has his work cut out for him, but he’s going to win me back.”

“Did you laugh in his face? Please tell me you laughed in his face.”

“No, I didn’t laugh in his face.”

“You should have,” she grumbled. “So, whatdidyou say?”

“That if he’s serious about having a relationship with Jake, I’m all for it.”

“Really?”

“Jake needs his dad in his life.”

She set her glass down and cocked her head at me.

“Does he really needTroy, though?”

I slumped back in my bar stool in defeat. I’d been wrestling with that same question.

“You should have seen him with Gabe. He ate up his attention.”

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