Page 81 of Heartbreaker
My brow cocks, and I ask, “Who would I be going out with?"
“I don’t know. Maybe you have some secret girlfriend or something that we don’t know about.”
A laugh sounds from the other man in the room, and he finally lifts his head to look at us. “Good one, Brody. But we all know he’s still hung up on Savannah. No chance in hell he’s taking some other girl out, especially on Valentine’s Day.”
My chest tightens at the sound of her name. Fuck, why am I like this? It’s been two fucking years, I should be over it by now. Over her. But every time I hear her name, the walls fall faster than Jericho.
“What are you guys even doing here?” I snap, regretting it almost immediately because it only confirms what Wolf just said. I fold my arms over my chest, readjusting my stance. “Shouldn’t you be out with your fiancée?”
“She’s sulking at home. Told me to round up you two sorry fuckers and have a guys’ night. I’ll take her out tomorrow or Saturday when she’s in the mood to be bothered,” Brody says.
“Why is she sulking?”
“Beats me.”
“You’re lying,” I say. “Now, tell me what you’re really doing here.”
Brody joins Wolf in the kitchen, draping an arm over his shoulder to pull him in close. “Can’t a guy just want to hang out with his two best friends?” When neither of us answers, Brody sighs. “Look, you are my best friends, and I hate seeing you both in such sour moods all the damn time. I figured we got tonight off, and Rae wanted her space, so we should make the most of it. When’s the last time we had a guys’ night, anyway?”
“Before you started dating Rae. At least Savannah let us come hang out on our days off while they were together,” Wolf says without hesitation. He holds Brody’s stare for a moment, then mine, before pulling out of the one-armed embrace and retreating to the wet bar in the corner of the living space. He’s not going to be happy when he realizes the good bottle of whiskey is gone. I only bring it out for special occasions…or nights like this.
“What’s going on with Raelynn?” I ask, trying to change the subject. It feels like the safest option, allowing Brody to take over the conversation again while I try to ease the unrelenting tightness in my chest.
“She’s just in one of her moods,” he says, letting his head fall. “And…” He glances around the corner when a cabinet door slams. Wolf opens and closes the different cabinets, mumbling to himself. Brody shakes his head and turns back to me. “And despite how many times I tried to convince her that getting some fresh air and good food would help her mood, she refused. Said she didn’t feel like it, all she wanted to do was soak in a hot bath with her new book and eat ice cream while watching some chick flick.”
“Where are the gifts you mentioned?” I say, remembering what he’d say when they walked in.
Brody rolls his eyes, slipping his hand into his jacket and pulling out three cigars. “Figured this would keep you from kicking us out immediately.”
“Yeah, I guess you can stay. I was about to make—”
“Brooks, you asshole!” Wolf’s voice rings out. Looks like he figured it out. “You drank the good shit.”
“Well, if you’d leave your house every once in a while, maybe you could’ve helped me polish off the bottle,” I say.
He’s become quite the hermit since the divorce, barely leaving home unless it’s a work-related event. I was surprised when Brody told me he joined them in Celestia for Crew’s wedding last week. The wedding Brody didn’t even want to tell me about, but I’d known about it since the oldest Williams popped the question because Ari let it slip. She had been invited, and she almost considered not going until I told her she should. She was friends with the Williams family, too, and I knew she’d kept in touch with Savannah more than she originally said after our breakup. I’d seen Savannah’s name appear on my sister’s phone more than once. If the Williamses were going to continue to welcome her—especially after the Thanksgiving fiasco—who was I to put a stop to it?
Ari took a small gift from me, and much to my surprise, I got a text from Crew the day after. It was short—simple—but I knew it was a lot for him to send me anything besides “Fuck you.”
Without missing a beat, Wolf counters, “Well, maybe if you would leaveyourhouse, you wouldn’t freak out every time you hear Savannah’s name.” He untwists the cap of the only whiskey bottle I have in stock and empties half the remainder into the six shot glasses he’d lined up along the counter.
I look over at Brody with a cocked brow.When did Wolf get so brave?
Brody rubs the space between his brows with a heavy sigh. This is not how he wanted tonight to go, but I can’t say I’m surprised. This is the first time it’s been just the three of us in a while. Brody has been busy with Raelynn, Wolf has been busy sulking, and I’ve been busy rebuilding my life, or trying to.
“I don’t freak out every time I hear Savannah’s name,” I say.
Wolf gathers the shots in his hands, moving them to the breakfast bar. He pushes two toward Brody and hands two to me. “Your stress lines say otherwise.”
“I don’t freak out when I hear her name. You guys don’t have to walk on eggshells around me when it comes to her. It’s been two years, and—”
“And you still love her.”
“And as long as she’s happy, then I’m happy,” I say, but the look they share mirrors the thoughts in my head.
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Brooks,” Wolf says.
He’s the first person who hasn’t handled me with kid gloves since the breakup. Everyone, including Brody, has tiptoed around me and anything that might bring her up, and I fucking hate it. It’s only made it harder to move on because it feels like I’m supposed to be holding onto something that isn’t here. This is not how I thought my life would turn out, but I don’t blame Savannah. She only did what she thought was best.
