Page 46 of Hades

“I always do.” He smirks for a second before it drops. “It’s been a while.”

“It has been.”

“He misses you,” he says, making my body tense.

“I don’t need you to lie to me, Mav. I know he hates me.”

“He may hate you, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel your loss. You’re his brother, his damn twin, for fuck’s sake. Yeah, over time he’s gotten better at hiding it, but that doesn’t mean that the loss doesn’t still eat at him.”

“I can’t go there,” I rasp.

He shakes his head. “You two are the same fucking person. Too stubborn for your own good. Should you have fucked his girl? Absolutely not, but he wouldn’t listen when you tried to tell him.”

“How is he?” I ask, even though I know I shouldn’t.

Years ago, Mav made it known to the both of us that he wouldn’t be the middle person unless it was necessary. That if we wanted to know about the other, then we needed to handle our own shit.

Still, I can’t help but hope he will give me something. Anything.

“He’s killing it on the president front. The club is growing, and the brothers support him.”

“And personally?” I falter.

Mav drums his fingers on the edge of the chair.

“He doesn’t date. He’s a lot like how you used to be,” he says after a minute. “What about you and Reaper’s sister? What’s happening there?”

“Evelyn. Her name is Evelyn, and there is nothing between us.”

Frowning, he looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“Bullshit. I only spent a couple of hours with the two of you, and it was clear as day that you two are like magnets. You moved in sync and never went far from the other, and don’t think I missed the way she touched you and you touched her.”

If it was clear to him after such a short time, does that mean the others see it? Are we the only two not admitting the truth?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie.

“I’ll let you live in denial for now, but just know you’ll have to face it eventually or you’ll risk losing what could be the best thing for you.”

“What about you? Have you found an old lady yet?” I ask, changing the subject.

Mav shakes his head. “No, I wish, but no. I’m fucking trying, though. I go on so many first dates it’s not even funny.”

I can’t help but smirk at how disgruntled he sounds. “Who would have thought that pretty boy would have a problem convincing a woman to fall in love with him.”

He scoffs. “Please, that would be easy. The problem is finding a woman I want to convince. Dating’s fucking rough, man. I swear half the women I go out with don’t know what the hell they want. I mean, they think they do, but when they tell you, it’s contradiction after contradiction. It’s exhausting. I just want a woman who’s fucking feisty as hell but knows she’s safe to let her guard down around me.”

“You should look for an oldest daughter, then,” I say, without thinking.

Mav’s eyebrows wing up. “Why do you say that?”

I shrug. “It’s something I’ve heard the sweetbutts and old ladies discussing. Oldest daughters are used to having to do everything on their own but love when a man can make them feel safe to let those defenses fall.”

He hums. “Good to know.”

My phone vibrates, and I stand without looking, knowing it’s the alarm to head to the hospital to pick up Evelyn.

“Going so soon?” Mav asks as he stands.