Oliver sits down next to Wade. “Well, he was right. Damn, man. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Let me rephrase—are you going to be okay? I’m asking in a totally serious way,” Oliver says.
My brothers watch me with total seriousness. Gone are their jokes and jabs, and in their place is a concern for my well-being.
It’s not misplaced.
Nothing feels right today. My house feels too big and my office too quiet. My shirt is too tight, and my stomach, despite being empty except for Rosie’s donut, threatens to spill its contents all over the floor.
I keep telling myself this will get easier. I just need to get absorbed back into this project and forget all about Blaire.
My head hangs in front of me.
“Of course, I’m going to be okay,” I say without any gumption behind it.
Oliver and Wade sit quietly—something that’s unusual for them. It makes a strange day even stranger having my brothers in a room with silence.
The truth is, I don’t even care. I lost all my fucks to give somewhere around two this morning.
I just don’t care.
I should. I want to care. I cared so much yesterday. I cared so fucking much that I left a woman who’s a damn unicorn —a woman unlike any other I’ll ever meet in my entire life—in my house crying.
I don’t know who I am anymore. I’ve lost touch with reality.
How did I get here? Why do I feel defeated?
Especially when I’m on the precipice of the biggest victory in Mason Ltd. history.
Wade checks his watch. “Look, we have a few minutes before we have to leave. You are going to have to pull your head out of your ass.”
Oliver sighs. “Come on, Wade. Have a little heart.”
“I have a heart,” he says. “I just don’t have room in it for someone to fuck up my future.”
“He’s our brother. He’s heartbroken.”
“I’m right fucking here,” I tell them both. “Damn.”
Wade places both feet on the floor. “I’m trying really hard here to have some empathy for your situation. However, I’m coming up shorthanded.”
“Shocker,” Oliver mutters.
Wade doesn’t look bothered. “I’m going to be quick about this and very cut-and-dry.”
“You just keep bringing the shockers, don’t ya?” Oliver asks.
Wade ignores him again. “This whole thing you have going on today is because of Blaire. Correct?”
“Well,” I say, “it is. But really, it’s more about?—”
“A simple yes or no will suffice,” Wade deadpans.
I sit up, making myself appear as tall as I can.
“You know what? Maybe it doesn’t suffice,” I counter. “Maybe life isn’t black and white and yes and no and up and down and left and right. Maybe it’s fucking gray. Maybe it’s a decimal point. Maybe it’s a … tie game, and there is no overtime.”
