“Well, get used to it now. You’re a dad, which means your life now revolves around taking care of another human, so someone needs to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself too.”
“You’re acting weird.”
She shrugs. “Not weird. Just checking in.”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I drop my pen to the desk and lean back in my chair. “Well, everything’s fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yeah, fine. Is that not good enough?”
“How’s Remy? How’s the lodge? How’s…” She pauses before lifting a brow. “Elodie?”
“Remy is perfect. The lodge is still standing. And you talk to Elodie more than I do, so shouldn’t you know the answer to that question?”
“I actually haven’t talked to Elodie in a few days. She didn’t text me back when I invited her to have dinner with me and Laney this week.”
It’s been a little over a week since the night I came home and got a front row seat to my nanny’s bare ass, but not a day has passed where I haven’t thought about it, or jacked off to the image in the shower.
My sister clearly doesn’t need to know that, though.
“She probably saw it and forgot to respond,” I say in an attempt to placate her. Elodie didn’t mention the dinner invitation to me, so I’m just speculating here, but she also doesn’t seem like the type of person to intentionally ghost someone.
“Maybe. Or maybe I scarred her for life when we went out a couple weeks ago, and she doesn’t want to hang out with me again.”
My pulse instantly spikes. “What do you mean you scarred her?”
“She didn’t tell you what happened at The Charming Bull?”
I lunge forward in my chair. “What the fuck happened, Dil?”
“Unclench your butt cheeks, big brother,” she says with annoyance. “She’s fine physically. Nothing crazy happened. She sang on stageduring Open Mic Night, and fucking rocked it by the way, but then she sort of had a panic attack after. I left her for a minute and when I came back, she was hyperventilating in a corner. She wouldn’t tell me what brought it on, so I was just wondering if you noticed something off with her since then.”
Jesus Christ. That night she came home, I was so irritated with her being out late that I didn’t think twice about asking her how the night went. No. I was pissed off that I couldn’t sleep knowing she was out, that she looked sinfully sexy in her outfit, and that other men got to look at her.
“You fucking left her alone, Dil?”
Her brows tighten. “She was dancing with some guy and seemed fine. How the hell was I supposed to know she would freak out?”
I push a hand through my hair and blow out a breath. “She hasn’t said anything to me, but then again, our interactions haven’t been…”
“Haven’t been what?” my sister asks with a bite to her tone. “Are you still being a dick to her, Henley?”
“Uh, I don’t know if dick is the appropriate term…”
She tosses her hand in the air, followed by an exasperated sigh. “Jesus. What is wrong with you?”
Do I tell her? Do I confide in my sister about what I realized last week after mine and Elodie’s literal run-in in the hallway? She’s probably the safer person to confide in than the guys at this rate, especially given the shit-talking they’ve done lately.
“Let’s just say that you were right,” I say, low and under my breath.
She cups her ear. “I’m sorry. What was that?”
“I said, you were right.”
“About?”
“Elodie and my…” I cast my gaze off to the side of the room before finishing, “attraction to her.”
