“It’s a good tradition,” he said softly.
I saw Ava roll her eyes. “If you two are going to eat each other can you pass me the pizza first?”
Chapter Eighteen
Payton
“You look…”Seph looked at me with narrowed eyes. “Rested.”
“I’m not sure that’s what you actually mean,” I said, walking behind where he was sitting at his desk. “Be more direct.”
“When’s the last time you stayed at your apartment?” He quickly changed the tab on his browser and I became automatically suspicious. This was him trying to deflect from what he was actually doing, because Seph had never kept tabs on where I was sleeping, unless he was concerned.
“Why? It was Tuesday night and it’s only Friday. Are you concerned about Owen?” I needed to ask the question else I’d be worrying about it all day.
He swivelled round on his chair and I glanced at the tabs at the top of his screen. “No. I like him. He was at training last night and he was on good form. He said you were going out for dinner.”
“We went to Simone’s. Finally. What’s your concern?”
Seph shook his head. “I’m happy for you. He’s a good guy. I’m not sure he deserves you entirely, but then again I don’t know what he needs punishing for.”
I smacked the back of his head. “Arsehole. Why’ve you got a dating website up?” He thought he’d got away without me noticing. Apart from work, where no one got one past Seph, he was notorious for thinking he’d fooled people when actually he’d still been blatantly obvious. “I can see the tab, Seph. Struggling to fool ladies into going home with you?”
He reddened, the same tone I coloured when I was embarrassed or turned on. “Actually, I’m fed up of meeting girls in bars and it just being one night. Family gatherings are getting a bit weird, given that only me and Cal are single. Everyone else has a plus one and you all look so fucking happy,” he said, swearing which was unusual for Seph unless he was drunk, which wasn’t unusual.
“Ava. Ava’s not properly dating anyone.” I pulled up his other office chair and sat down. “What do you know? She’s up to something, I just don’t know what.”
He pushed his chair away from his desk. “Not much. She’s become secretive. The other weekend when we were all at Mum and Dad’s and she came on the Saturday because her friend was having a bad time—I don’t think that was true.”
“Owen thinks he saw her out that night with a dark haired man,” I said. “And she came over later in the afternoon and left early, which is unlike her. She’s selling the townhouse.”
“I know. I’m buying it.”
My hands clutched the sides of the chair. “What? I didn’t know this. Why?”
He shrugged. “Only Ava knows. It’s an investment. I’ll rent it to professionals. I’ve told her there’s no rush for her to move out though.”
“When I was there on Wednesday she was already packing. And someone else was in the house with her. He sneaked out the back. She told me she was seeing someone, but it wasn’t serious and we couldn’t know about him. She said if I knew who it was, I’d understand why. She’s moving in with him too, although she says it’s temporarily.”
“It is. She’s found her next flip, or the one she’ll live in for a bit. It’s uninhabitable at the moment, so there will be a delay before she can shift in there. Why’s she not telling us who he is?” Seph said. He looked hurt and I remembered that as much as he was a hot shot lawyer who had a reputation already, he was the most sensitive of all of my siblings.
“It’s someone she knows we won’t approve of. Either someone we know, or he’s older or he’s a troublemaker. We have to trust her though, Seph. She’ll tell us when she’s ready. Or when she needs us.” I stepped over to him and batted a hand at his perfectly groomed hair.
“Oi! Stop it!” He tried to grab my hand, but I just added my other and managed to disturb the well-glued style he’d groomed his hair in to. “I might have a date after!”
“Let’s see then. Who’s made the shortlist?”
He clicked on the tab and we started to look through the photos and bios of various twenty to thirty somethings who had made it through my twin’s filters, laughing at some of the comments and pictures, several of which had been through too many filters.
“She looks like your ex,” I said, pointing to the picture of a pretty dark haired girl with large green eyes.
“Yeah, don’t need to relive that.”
“Do you miss her?” I asked. They’d been together from when they were twenty to last year and although none of us were ever convinced she was right for Seph, she’d kept him level and calm. My brother was best when he was in a relationship; it made him feel secure and he liked having someone to care for. I had suggested a pet, but seeing as he struggled to feed himself some mornings, my idea was vetoed.
“I miss the idea of her, but not what she actually was. I’m fed up of one night stands though. I don’t know how Callum does it. Three different girls last weekend. He’s probably diseased.” Seph looked repulsed. “At some point Cal’s going to meet someone and fall hard. I can’t wait. Hopefully, she’ll walk all over him and he’ll get a taste of his own medicine.”
“That was very bitter for you.”
