I hear rustling in the background on his end. “I think I’m ready to settle down.”
I almost trip over my own feet as soon as the words leave his mouth. “Wait, what? I think we have a bad connection.”
He groans. “You heard me just fine.”
“What in the world has gotten into you, Brax? Do you even know what you’re saying?”
“I’m getting bored with the games, Tate. Dating isn’t fun like it used to be.”
“Well, you do go through the ladies like water vanishes in a drought.”
“Why do you always say weird shit?”
I chuckle as I stare at my reflection in the storefront window of a clothing store. “Am I wrong, though?”
He exhales loudly. “No.”
“Maybe try to get to know a woman before you sleep with her. You might not go through them as quickly as you have been. Are there even any women left in Chicago you haven’t slept with?”
“Come on. I’m not that bad.”
“You are, brother. What’s your thing with relationships? Have you ever had a steady girlfriend?”
I cycle through all the women who have come and gone over the last ten years. Not one of them stuck around longer than a month or two. I didn’t even bother learning their names because I knew they weren’t going to be there long.
“Amber.”
“Who?”
“Long red hair.”
“Ah. I remember her,” I lie because he’s been with more than one redhead, and I’m not about to waste time trying to figure out which one she was. “How long was that?”
“A little over a month.”
“I hate to break it to you, but a month isn’t a long-term relationship.”
“I know. It’s like I have a block. I don’t know what it is.”
I know what it is, and so does he. We don’t talk about Mom often, but we saw the heartbreak my dad went through when she died. We were little, but the memories of that time are burned into our brains.
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right one. When you do, you’ll know it and won’t want her to get away after a month.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, and maybe get off those dating apps and stop hooking up with the women at the bar.”
He sighs. “You sure are killing all my fun.”
“You asked for my opinion. I’m giving it, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to me.”
“Did you know it?”
“Know what?”
“Did you know it with Wylder?”
“Did I know what with Wylder?”
