Page 33 of Three Pucking Ex's Brothers
I glance at Tommy as Freddie casually takes off after her.
“Why don’t you have something to eat first, Nora?” Freddie asks. “Then I can take you home.”
Tommy looks at me for a second, his eyebrows furrowed before he gives me a wide berth and follows Freddie, leaving me in his dust.
I shake off the weirdness and follow him until we get to the kitchen, where Nora is sliding on her heels, and I have to smirk because the sight is downright funny, but also strangely cute.
Nora Brighton in my T-shirt, my sweatpants, andheels.
“It’s fine, I’ll just uh…call an Uber…”
“No, you will not,” I say as I push forward toward her. “One of us can?—”
“Oh, I couldn’t be a bother. I mean, you did enough already, and I…I don’t want to ask you to go out of your way to drop me off at my brother’s, and?—”
“I’ll take you,” Tommy says, and I nearly have a heart attack.
I turn to look at him, the shock on my face evident because Tommy isnotone to volunteer for anything, and his conversational skills are about as lush as a desert most of the time. Freddie must be as shocked as me, because he turns to look at our baby brother as well.
“I mean, your brother Matt lives on Caraway, right?” Tommy says. “That’s like…two streets over from campus.”
“Um…yeah, it is. How did you?—”
Tommy shifts his weight, and I can tell from his sudden twitching fingers he’s nervous, which makesmenervous. “You uh…told me last year when your brother bought the place. Remember?”
I try to think back to when she would have said something, but I can’t seem to remember.
But then again, my brain is fucked up this morning in general, and Tommy’s always been the one with the insane memory, so I’m just going to have to take his word for it.
“Oh, right,” Nora says, clutching her dress to her chest.
Freddie clears his throat as Tommy says, “Besides, I have to leave for campus anyway, so I don’t mind?—”
Nora looks at him, her bottom lip between her teeth. “I guess, if it’s on your way…”
Tommy nods. “Okay.”
“You should eat something first,” Freddie says, and I blink out of my haze.
“Freddie’s right, you should?—”
“I’m good.” She clutches her clothes to her chest and nods. “No, thank you, but I can’t. My…stomach’s just not feeling the idea of food right now, and I think…I think I should just go.” She looks at me, her gaze roving over me with an expression of guilt and remorse and something else.
Intrigue, maybe?
Of course, I could be projecting. She might not remember much either. At least that’s what I tell myself, because I can’taskher right now what she remembers. If she remembers anything at all.
Freddie nods. “Okay, then.”
Tommy pushes past me and pulls on his backpack strap, nodding for Nora to follow him.
And she does. Becauseof courseshe does.
She doesn’t want to be here, that’s clear. I try and tell myself it’s notme.But I know that’s a lie. I saw her face when she woke up. Felt her in my arms.
I may not be able to remember what happened completely, but there’s enough room to speculate given the fact we were cuddled together like a damn couple.
So I don’t fight Tommy’s suggestion. I don’t even protest when she follows him out the door. Because I’ve never felt so guilty in all my life.
