Page 102 of Every Time My Heart Breaks

Slowing to a stop, I uttered, “Chloe?”

Shehad orchestrated this?

“Yeah. She—” He glanced over as he kept walking, only to realize I was no longer at his side. Glancing back, he sighed and reversed a few steps. “She’s tired of you trying to get her to marry you. So she asked me to take you out for a night and remind you why you actually prefer bachelorhood over the old ball and chain.”

I blinked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“So…she asked you to get me laid?” I surmised.

“No….” He frowned as if that suggestion were ludicrous. “Hell no. Nothing like that,” Trick denied yet again, only to wince and shrug. “Well, maybe. But shesaidit wasn’t like that.”

I barked out a harsh, disbelieving laugh and gripped the back of my neck. “Un-fucking-believable. I cannot fucking believe her. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m not picking up some rando and having a stupid one-night stand or whatever it is Chloe thinks I should have. I made a commitment to try with your sister, and that’s what I’m going to fucking do. So you’re just going to have to tell her that you failed in your little mission to—”

“Oh, I already knew I was going to fail,” Trick agreed brightly, throwing an arm over my shoulders as he guided me into the hallway that led toward the back reception hall room. “I’m with Dad on this whole idea. I think you two should make a go for it and see how it plays out. So I already had other plans to do the very opposite of what Chloe asked.”

I squinted, trying to figure out what the opposite of getting laid was…

“I’m going to coop you up with a bunch of boring, old married men for the night.” Trick shook my shoulder before pausing to revise, “I mean, except for me…and Vaughn.”

I blinked, more confused than ever.

“You’re doing…what?”

Trick laughed and pushed open the door to the back room to reveal a horde of familiar faces already seated at two long tables pushed together, ordering drinks from a waitress.

“I got you your brothers from other mothers,” Trick explained.

“Uh…” I peered around the room in surprise but then pointed toward JB. “Yeah, except that one actually has the same mother as me.”

“Logistics,” Trick answered, waving the issue aside. “The point is that all these men here are on your side, and we’re going to help you.”

I turned to him, furrowing my brow. “You’re going to help me? Withwhat?”

“With Chloe!” Patting my shoulder, Trick dragged me forward toward the rest of the guys. “If you want to win her over, then we got your back.”

“Wait, seriously?” First, my eyebrows lifted in surprise, and then a slow grin took over my face. But, hell yes. Maybe this was exactly what I needed: help from a bunch of boring, old married men.

The others seemed to notice us then, and Julian lifted a fist in greeting. “Hey! There’s the man of the hour. Get over here, Luke.” Glancing up at the waitress standing at his elbow, he pointed my way. “Get him the house draft. On me…”

“Thanks,” I said, surprised by his support. I would’ve thought Chloe’s older brother would be the least likely to go for this, but as he patted the empty seat next to him, I realized how wrong I’d been.

Until I actually sat next to him and he threw an arm around my shoulder and leaned in to slap a happy kiss on my cheek, only to pause and murmur into my ear. “Make her happy; that’s all you need to do. But hurt my baby sister, and I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

My eyebrows lifted, and I inadvertently met my brother’s eyes near the end of the table.

JB looked amused as he shook his head as if he knew exactly how my life was being threatened.

“Alright, alright, alright,” Trick called above all the talking as soon as the waitress left the room. “I hereby call to order the first and only meeting of Operation Help Luke.”

“Operation Help Luke?” Gracen repeated skeptically. “Are you sure helping him is actuallypossiblein one meeting?”

“That’s gonna take one long-ass meeting,” someone else called out.

“Yeah, my wife’s due to have a baby in six months,” Beau spoke up. “Am I going to be able to see it born? Or will we still be stuck in this—”

“You guys are just hilarious,” I deadpanned, folding my arms over my chest and scowling at them. “Fuck you.”

And they threw a bunch of fake encouragement right back at me, someone literally throwing a wadded-up napkin at my face while the rest booed or told me to eat shit and someone called, “We love you, Lukey.”

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