Page 48 of Dream Lover
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Knock. Knock. “You awake?”Drew’s voice echoed through my house. Damn, I forgot he had a key.
I’d just cracked the eggs over the bowl for Quinn’s omelet. “In the kitchen,” I called out, hoping all the shouting wouldn’t wake my sleeping beauty.
Not that I wanted to hide Quinn from Drew. He knew how I felt about her. She just needed her sleep for the next round.
Sprinkling the cheddar cheese into the yolky mixture, I returned to chopping the onions and crumbling the sausage up to add in.
Drew entered the kitchen, plopping down on a stool at the breakfast bar. Brows knitted, he smoothed a palm over his face. Dark circles rimmed his eyes, and his usually neat hair had a disheveled appearance sticking up every which way. Smelling of cigar smoke and liquor, he needed something to cure his hangover.
“What the hell are you doing here so early?” I went to the sink and filled a glass of water then nabbed some pain relievers from the cabinet over the fridge. “Take two. Doctor’s order.” I grinned at him. It’d been a while since I’d seen him look so damn rough. He was always very well put together; this, not so much. “You need to shave, man.” His five o’clock shadow was patchy, making him look like a two-yea-old cutting up Chewbacca.
“Thanks.” He palmed the white pills and tossed them down his throat, chasing them with water. “Why are you cooking a fancy breakfast?” No sooner than the words passed his lips, Quinn stumbled into the room rubbing her eyes, wearing nothing but one of my tees. Her long legs were on dynamic display.
I loved the sight of the white cotton hitting her knees. Drew took one look at her and snorted. “Seriously?”
Quinn went to the coffee pot and poured us all a mug. “Morning to you too, brother.” Her gaze cut to her brother as she placed a cup in front of him. “What’s wrong? Trouble in paradise already?”
“I don’t know… Yeah. Maybe. Fuck.”
I took a hearty sip of my coffee, enjoying the fact that Quinn knew how I took it with cream and sugar. “Good morning.” I kissed her temple and let her go. She gave me a timid smile, but I knew it wasn’t directed at me, though, rather at her brother. She could also tell something was seriously wrong with him.
“Listen. I’ve been nice and held back as long as I could, but the truth is—your woman is a mega bitch. She’s awful, Drew. And I’m scared that if you marry her, she’s going to cut you off from us completely.” Quinn took a seat next to her brother.
“You think I don’t know that?” he fired back surprisingly.
“Question is what are you prepared to do about it? You gotta man up. She wouldn’t allow your best friend to be in your wedding.”
He physically jerked, a wince crossing his lips. “Hell, sis. I don’t know. I loved Rebecca, but she’s changed. Our relationship is different now. It’s like she’s more in love with the idea of her fantasy wedding than me.” My stomach sunk to my feet. I hated seeing my best friend so damn torn, but on the flip side I was happy he was seeing this with his own eyes.
“Do you still want to marry her?” I asked the question Quinn didn’t.
His head shook as he ran his fingers through his hair. I returned to cooking breakfast. “I don’t know. I thought she was the one. The day I bought her ring, I knew I was prepared to promise her forever, but now I don’t know.”
“Maybe you just need to push the date back,” Quinn suggested, though, I knew she wanted to tell him to call it off. It didn’t matter what we thought about Rebecca. What counted the most was how Drew felt and what he wanted.
“Maybe. She’d probably get in a snit and throw a shit fit if I suggested it.” Drew lifted the coffee mug to his lips, taking a sip.
“You want an omelet, man?” I slid the first one off the spatula and onto a plate.
“I can’t eat right now, but thanks.”
I passed the plate to Quinn and went to the fridge to grab the hot sauce right as she opened her mouth to ask for it. “Thank you, honey.”
“Ick. You two are disgusting,” Drew groaned, but a hint of a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth.
“What are you even doing here?” Quinn side-eyed her brother. ‘Don’t you normally have brunch with her folks on Saturdays?”
“I told her that I had a work thing.”
Quinn’s gaze softened. “You shouldn’t have to lie to spend time with your best friend.” She shoved a forkful of cheesy egg into her mouth. “Oh, this is good. You sure you don’t want any?” The fork waved in front of Drew’s face under his nose, and he shot back off the stool and ran for the bathroom. Quinn lost her smile.
“Don’t worry about him. He’ll figure his shit out. Right now, he’s hungover.”
“Maybe. I just hate seeing him unhappy.”
“I know. He needs to sleep today, and then we’ll help him figure everything out.”
