They weren’t actually dating. They weren’t getting married. And that meant that once they were back to being friends, he’d have to see Thea every day at the job. Eventually he’d have to watch her leave work to go out with some other guy, maybe someday even go home to a family that didn’t include him.
The idea was intolerable, and the more he thought about it, the heavier it settled on his chest. Because the truth was, he wastired. Tired of being the guy who was always alone. Not alone on Saturday nights, because that was easy enough for him to fix, but alone when it counted. Alone on lazy Sunday mornings. Alone at the family dinner table. The kind of alone that made him look at the amazing woman in his life and wonder if she could fill the hole in the center of his chest. That hole had grown bigger with each year that he told himself he didn’t have any kind of forever to offer another person. Until Thea.
She made him want things he didn’t think he was capable of. Things he’d insisted to his family he didn’t want. Things that he’d shown the world he didn’t care about. And once he’d shut down the idea of ever having those soft forever feelings, the world had responded by expecting nothing more of him. He’d drifted along, happy to comply, until Thea had shocked the hell out of him by making him question whether he could let himself want something other than the life he’d been living.
And that was fucking terrifying. No wonder he’d run in the other direction this week.
In the end, all that was way too much to say to Trip, so he stuck with a terse, “I’m not sure hiring Thea would be the best idea.” He wasn’t even sure she was speaking to him right now, to be honest. Only a complete asshole would blow her off all week because his insides were all tangled up every time he thought about her smile.
Trip grumbled, “Yeah, well, I don’t think me answering phones is the best idea either.”
“We agree on that.”
His brother snorted in amusement, then sobered immediately and leaned forward to flip the air-conditioning vent open and closed a few times before blurting out, “Dammit, I’m sorry, okay?”
Aiden flicked a surprised glance at him. “For what?”
“I just”—he exhaled hard—“I owe you an apology. About everything. And I’m sorry.”
Heavy silence descended on the truck cab until Aiden said, “Did Mom put you up to this?”
“Kind of.” Trip had moved on to spinning his phone nervously between his fingers. “But she’s right. We can’t run the business with me making shitty comments about you all day.”
Months of pent-up hurt and anger climbed up Aiden’s throat, but he stuffed it down and asked as calmly as he could, “I’ve gotta know: what the hell did I do to make you so goddamn pissy all the time?”
Trip dropped his phone in his lap and hardened his jaw. For a second, he looked like he wasn’t going to answer, but he finally unclenched enough to say, “It’s Ash, all right? She… she wants me to be more like you.”
“Shewhat?” Aiden looked over at him in horror, grateful that they were finally past the worst of the Chicago congestion so he could focus on the conversation without fear of plowing into any stop-and-start traffic. He had no idea how marriage actually worked, but comparing your husband to your brother-in-law didn’t seem like a great sign. “She doesn’t, um…”
He was too appalled to even finish the sentence, but thankfully Trip gave an emphatic shake of his head.
“No. God no. She always says she married the hotter Murdoch brother.”
Trip’s face softened then, and the satisfied little smile that crossed his face belonged to a man who was thoroughly besotted with his woman. Aiden was starting to understand what that felt like. “Poor Ash,” he quipped. “She’s wrong, but I’m glad she loves you anyway.”
That brought out a full-blown guffaw from his brother, and Aiden laughed right along with him before Trip sobered.
“No, it’s not like that. But she says we’re in a rut. Wishes we did more things.” The tension was back in Trip’s shoulders. “‘Aiden’s in a band, Aiden went on that trip to Jamaica. Aiden’s always meeting up with his friends.’ She wants me to be moreadventurous.”
“Huh.” Aiden was at a loss. Trip had been stomping around pissed for months because his wife wanted more date nights? “I’m actually pretty boring when it comes right down to it.”
“I know that, asshole,” Trip said immediately, but there was no anger behind the words. “And yeah, we could probably go out more. But it… it wasn’t just that.” His hands clenched and released before he continued in a rush of words. “Things with Dad were getting shittier and shittier, and I knew you were gonna be the boss at work sooner rather than later, so when Ash started bringing you up at home too? It was just a whole fucking lot of the Adonis show, all right?”
Aiden glanced at him with dawning comprehension. “Is that why you got in my face about all those clients not wanting to work with me?”
Trip ducked his head, looking embarrassed. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that too. I was just glad somebody else out there wasn’t buying the hype.”
“Trust me, there’s no hype,” Aiden said flatly. “And actually…” He drew in a deep breath and pushed out the next sentence in the interest of honesty. “I stay so busy because my life’s pretty empty otherwise.”
“Not anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
Trip lifted his hand in an “isn’t it obvious?” gesture. “Thea looks at you like you’re the goddamn solution to every problem in the world, man.”
She does? Aiden wanted to demand to hear more, but Trip wasn’t done with his apology.
“Anyway, I’m sorry. Things at work have been… better. The guys appreciate your leadership. And honestly, I wouldn’t want to do half the shit you put up with.”
