“Your brother is looking for you.”
Leo stifled a groan. Reese was the worst. He’d been pestering Leo to get out of the house and… just get out there again. According to him, this was just a bump in the road.
Yeah, he could say that because he’d found the love of his life.
“Tell him whatever it is, I’m not interested.”
Tripp had to be the most annoying cousin. He was always smiling, always cheery. The guy rarely had a bad day. How could anyone be that happy? He chuckled again and clapped his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Come on, he’s your brother. Maybe he just wants to go out like old times.”
Leo shrugged out from beneath Tripp’s touch. “Let me guess, there’s something in it for you.”
That knowing smirk said it all. This was a setup. Reese was going to drag Leo to some bar where there would be dancing and lots of women. While Reese was happily taken and Leo was nursing a broken heart, Tripp would make out like a bandit.
“You ever get tired of being a ladies’ man?”
An arch of his brow was the only reaction Tripp gave Leo. It was as if he were asking, ‘you kidding?’ with that look alone. “What is there to get tired of? The women love me.”
Leo groaned. It was on the tip of his tongue to remind Tripp that Kat had very little interest in him, but that would only verify what everyone assumed.
He wasn’t over her.
Kat was the one. He’d been willing to do whatever it took to have her—including standing up to the man who terrified him.
And what had she done?
Gone and ran off withChaz.
Just like it did any time he thought about the miscreant, Leo’s lip curled with disgust. That guy was getting everything, and he probably didn’t even appreciate it like he should have. He must have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth because that was how it looked from the outside.
Mr. Jerris handed the guy everything on a platter, ready for his enjoyment.
The job.
The girl.
“Come on, Leo. It’s been months and you haven’t even heard from her. Clearly, she’s over you.”
Leo whirled to face Tripp chest to chest, his breathing angry. This was exactly what he had been avoiding while locking himself away in his house. It took hardly anything to set him off. Kat might have left right after the new year, but it felt like she was still here. When he was on the verge of sleep, he could hear her laughter. There were still parts of the house that smelled like her perfume.
Maybe everyone was right.
Maybe he was crazy and he should move on.
His stomach knotted uncomfortably, making him feel more sick than anything else. Tripp continued to stare at him expectantly as if he actually believed he’d been making progress. The guy would never understand what it felt like to lose something so substantial in his life. He’d had it easy. Two parents still living. No one capable of breaking his heart.
No wonder he was always so chipper.
Shoving the rope into Tripp’s hand, Leo stalked off.
“Is that a no?” Tripp called after him.
“It’s a not if you were the last guy on earth,” Leo called back.
Leo spentthe rest of the afternoon and evening in his room. He refused to come out for dinner, mostly because he heard thekids’ voices. Serenity and her two boys were joining them for dinner.
It wasn’t that Leo didn’t like the kids. On the contrary, the boys were great. Smart, too.
It was the overall joy that Leo couldn’t stomach. Did that make him a bad person?
