I still can’t believe how that relationship went down. I can still picture my mom’s face when she exited the kitchen to find Katherine had left and she and Zac had broken up. I almost went after her, but what would I have said?Sorry for telling my brother to break up with you?I was worried you’d be too much of a pussy to break up with him yourself, even though he was a dog?
I finish my reps and check my phone again. There’s still no text from Katherine, and so I decide to call Sebastian while I run on the treadmill.
“Dude, do you know what time it is?” He sounds annoyed when he answers the phone. “Are you crazy?”
“No, I’m at the gym, working out. What are you doing?”
“I’m still in bed, doofus.”
“With your wife?”
“No,” he grunts. “She spent the night at the apartment with the girls.” He sounds annoyed, which I understand.
What red-blooded man would want his hot wife sleeping elsewhere instead of in their marital bed? I mean, they got married after knowing each other a week, and Sebastian had set her up, so it wasn’t the most conventional of marriages, but they have since figured it all out and are desperately in love … with some thanks to me and my sleuthing.
“Oh wow. So, I guess she’s really going slow now …” I understand why, but I don’t want to upset Sebastian. He’s been my best friend since we were young, and I know him better than almost anyone else in his life. “You okay with that?”
“She spends most nights with me.” He sighs. “Plus, her friends just got to the city, so she doesn’t want them to feel like they’re alone, so I get it. Do I want her with me every night? Yes, but I’ll be patient.” He sounds more awake now. “Also, what the hell is going on with you and Katherine? She dated Zac?”
“She did.” It’s my turn to grunt, and I up the pace on the treadmill to eight miles per hour so I can really get my heart racing. “They dated, like, eight years ago. It didn’t go well. He cheated and then dumped her. She felt scorned and blamed me.”
I don’t tell him the part where I’d met her first and how sexy I thought she was. Nor do I mention that we had a moment. Nothing actually happened, and I’m sure she doesn’t even remember.
“You made him dump her?”
“She’s exaggerating. She told him this lie about having to fly to LA to be in a Victoria’s Secret runway show, and I just …” My voice trails off as he laughs.
“She said she was a Victoria’s Secret model?” He chuckles. “How long ago was this again?”
“When she was a senior in high school. She was hot, for sure, but it was quite obvious that she was lying. I just didn’t want her or Zac wasting each other’s time. You know how it is … look what you did for Sergio.”
“Don’t mention my brat of a brother. I’m still not over his dramatics.” Sebastian sounds annoyed. “Do you know where that fool is now?”
“France? Wasn’t he with Louisa and Charlotte, having a ménage à trois?”
“He’s in bloody Australia now. He met some German girls who were traveling the world, and all of a sudden, he wants to hang out with kangaroos. I swear he’s going to drive me crazy.” Sebastian lets out some expletives and then a deep sigh. “But enough about Sergio. How’s Zac?”
“He’s opening a bar on the Lower East Side with two of his friends from Columbia, Tristan and Ray. Not sure if you remember them?”
“Vaguely, but good for him. Glad to hear he has more get-up-and-go than Sergio does. How’s the boutique hotel business going?”
“Good. I’m closing in on some new deals. Stacey sent over some stats on some potential beach properties, as she knows I’m trying to get into the domestic travel side of the market. The plan is to acquire a hundred different properties across five to seven states and then expand by fifty a year. So, we’ll see how it goes.”
“So, you’d be the ideal investor for the girls then,” Sebastian says with a chuckle. “Fancy investing in a bed-and-breakfast?”
“Katherine hates me, and the deal is too small for me.” I am only half joking. “Plus, I’m still waiting to hear their new business plan.”
“I think Willow said they’d be ready to pitch again in a couple of weeks”—I hear the sound of a fridge opening in the background, and my stomach growls—“so you can decide whether or not you want to invest then.”
“I’ll be there as long as Katherine doesn’t try and kill me. I texted her to see if she wanted to chat, but she didn’t respond. I don’t suppose Willow has told you what’s going on or anything.”
“No, she hasn’t. Do you want me to talk to her for you and see?”
“No,” I say quickly. “Best not to make it worse. I’ll wait to see what she has to say when I see her next. I find it amusing that she’s looking for investors though.”
“It’s crazy to me that Zac dated a girl from Whispering Haven,” Sebastian adds. “I had the feeling that you’d never even heard of the town before, back when I first met Willow.”
“Oh? I mean, it’s not really a town I know much about. I guess I forgot all about her. It wasn’t me who dated her,remember? It was Zac. I don’t even know if he still remembers her. It was so long ago.”
