A reluctant smile tugs at my mouth. “Thanks for volunteering as tribute, but even at my lowest, I know Minji would never forgive that level of scheming.”
“You positive?” Grayson leans forward, looking strangely deflated. “Because I’ve already mapped it out. Emerie’s cousin runs a successful matchmaking service, and could find James someone, while I join their gym and ‘accidentally’ run into Evelyn during her morning routine. I could spot her on the bench press…”
I shake my head. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
“Thank God,” Axel mutters. “It’s late. You need sleep—you’ve got those raccoon circles going.”
“Feels worse than it looks.” My knees crack as I stand. “Stay over if you want. Axel, the guest room’s made up. Grayson, you’re on sofa duty.”
His face crumples. “Why am I exiled to the couch?”
“Baby of the family,” Axel and I chorus, the old joke tugging at the corner of my mouth despite everything.
I leave them bickering and lock myself in my bedroom. The mattress catches me like an old friend as I collapse fully clothed, limbs splayed across the California King. The ceiling offers no answers, just shadows and silence. Time stretches. I court sleep like a desperate ex, but my brain keeps replaying the highlight reel of my mistakes. Exhaustion pulls at my bones while rejection and regret keep my fingers twisting in the sheets, anchoring me to consciousness.
By three in the morning, my pillowcase is damp with sweat, and my eyes are burning from the effort of trying not to cry over a woman. Yet, my tears are hot and unfamiliar on my face. I can’t remember the last time I cried like this—over anyone or anything, not even when Vanessa left. This is different. Raw. Like someone’s scooped out something essential inside me.
I grind the heels of my palms against my eye sockets until kaleidoscope patterns bloom behind my lids. Ironic, isn’t it? The guy who writes happily ever afters for a living can’t conjure one for himself. The man who sells the myth that love conquers all is drowning in evidence to the contrary.
Damn, I wish I had a time machine. If only I had ignored Evelyn that day, I wouldn’t be in this predicament now.
I must eventually drift off because suddenly there’s daylight and the soundtrack of my brothers’ bickering filtering through the apartment walls.
“—can’t just mope around forever,” I hear Grayson saying.
“Give him time to process,” Axel counters. “The man’s in love. That shit hurts when it goes sideways.”
I haul myself out of bed and stumble to the bathroom, only to be ambushed by my own reflection. My hair is a disaster, my eyes are bloodshot, and my usually immaculate beard is veeringinto castaway territory. So, this is what heartbreak looks like on me.
By the time I reach the kitchen, my brothers have truly made themselves at home. Axel is scrambling eggs while Grayson sits at the island, scrolling through his phone with a cup of coffee.
“Morning, sunshine,” Grayson says, looking up. “You look like you got hit by a truck.”
“Feel like it, too.” I pour myself a cup of coffee, grateful for the familiar ritual. “Thanks for staying.”
Axel slides a plate toward me. “Eat something. Your fridge was pathetic, but I salvaged what I could.”
The eggs taste like cardboard. “What time is it?”
“Almost eleven,” Axel says, wiping his hands on a dish towel.
Grayson’s lips curl into a smirk. “I had to convince Axel to let you sleep. Told him about your little sobfest at 3 AM. Thought I was hallucinating when I heard it on my way to take a leak.”
“Wasn’t crying,” I mutter into my mug.
“Right.” Grayson’s eyebrows dance. “And I definitely wasn’t hovering outside your door like some helicopter parent.”
Coffee sprays from my mouth. “You what?”
“Only briefly.” He shrugs. “Had to make sure you weren’t about to do something stupid.”
“God, you’re such an ass.”
Grayson’s smirk. “I’m an ass who loves you, man. And watching you mope around like this is painful.”
“Got a better suggestion than Operation Homewrecker?” I push the eggs around my plate.
“As a matter of fact…” He sets his coffee down with a decisive clink. “Wedding. Next weekend. Upstate. You in?”
