That wasn’t the first time Chael and his crew had shown up out of nowhere when I’d gone out west for flight training. He and Maple met before.
Chael dipped his head at my squad mates. “Welcome.” He turned to one of the guys he was with and made a gesture with his head. “This round’s on me.” He turned his gaze to me. “I need to speak with my cousin.”
“Of course you do,” I griped.
I left Maple and Will, knowing they would be fine with the rest of Chael’s crew.
“You could’ve called,” Chael said as we took one of the booths in the far back of the bar.
“Why?” I questioned. “When you have a sixth sense about these things.”
He huffed and his nostrils flared. “You and your brothers are a stubborn lot. I had to find out from your father that Gabriel is getting married.”
I nodded even as my chest tightened. I was happy for Gabe and Lena. Really, but fuck if it didn’t bother me that both of my brothers were blissed out and in love and shit, and I was…
Fuck, what the hell was I?
“He expects you at the wedding,” I told Chael, masking my real feelings.
“We’ll be there.” He paused, his dark brown eyes burrowing into mine.
I fucking hated when he did that shit. As a kid, it used to creep me out. As an adult, it served to piss me off.
A small, arrogant smile crept over his lips. “You don’t like it when I do that.”
“Stop trying to read my fucking thoughts,” I growled. “Fucking weirdo,” I mumbled.
“Brother, I don’t need to read your thoughts to see you’ve got ‘messed up’ written all over you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me,” I lied, even though I knew Chael could parse out the truth no matter what I said.
“Full of it.” He took a swig of the beer one of his mates had brought over to the table without him asking. “At least Micah had the respect to tell me the truth when I asked if he was falling for his woman.”
“I’m not Micah.”
“No.” He took another drink and swallowed. “Unlike Micah, you were burned by love before. It makes you even more resistant the second time around.”
“Who the hell said anything about love?” I held out my arms wide.
Instead of an answer, a deep chuckle fell from Chael’s lips.
I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, I’ll let you hold onto that lie for as long as you need.” He leveled me with another look. “Now you can tell me, specifically, what’s your issue.”
I thought about telling Chael to screw off. A bar on the outskirts of Las Vegas was the last place I wanted to divulge my feelings on anything, but Chael was family. Distant family, but still family.
“We got into an argument.”
“We?”
“Savannah…she’s back.” He knew the history between Savannah and me. I didn’t look him in the face because I sensed that he was smirking.
Once, a long time ago, Chael had told me that she would return. I’d told him to fuck off and that, if she did return, she could screw off as well.
“Do tell,” he insisted, taking another pull from his beer.
I told him what happened with Aiden, and me keeping him out of school. Then I went into what Savannah said. Though I didn’t admit it aloud, that was what hurt so much—the mention of our son.
