The image of her at my feet, hand pressed to her head where it had hit the table wouldn’t leave my mind. Had there been blood? I didn’t even stick around long enough to look. What if she’d had a concussion? What if the injury had caused a seizure?
“Has Evie spoken to Darcy today?” I blurted before I could think better of it.
Cody took a long pull on his beer, shrugging morosely. “I don’t know what Evie’s doing at the moment. Fuck, it’s like I don’t even know her anymore.”
I looked closer at my friend. Stuck in my own misery, I’d missed the signs. Dark shadows circled his eyes, and he hadn’t made a single stupid joke since we’d arrived. Tipping the bottle up and draining his beer, he placed the empty soldier at his elbow with three of its comrades.
“You guys off again?” I asked.
Cody grunted. “She said she loved me, but wasn’tin lovewith me. What does that even mean? Love is love, right?”
“I guess it means you can be best friends and fuck other people.”
Cody flicked his coaster at me and we fell back into miserable silence. A waitress brought Cody another bottle of beer as I picked up a straw and poked at the half-melted ice cubes in my untouched glass of cola.T-shirtby Thomas Rhett played unobtrusively over hidden speakers, filling the silence at our table.
“I spoke to my guy at the Swenton Daily. They said they’re not picking up a defamation piece, no matter how sensational it seems. No one reads the Times anyway so you should be fine. Piece of shit paper if you ask me.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, knowing I should be grateful for his effort, but struggling to care. Cody clapped me on the shoulder and took a gulp of his new bottle of beer.
“How’re you planning on getting home?” I asked, adding the bottles he’d already finished before I arrived to the growing tally beside him out of habit. He’d had a fair bit, no way was he under the limit to drive. I didn’t know why I cared. Turned out I was exactly like my old man, so I couldn’t judge anyone else.
Cody grimaced, focusing past me as I registered the click of high heels on the floorboards.
“You didn’t,” I grumbled without turning to the new arrival.
“I needed the big guns. It was either your family or mine, and I didn’t want anyone bringing actual guns to talk to you, so… Ta-da.” Cody gave a half-assed attempt at jazz hands as a cloud of Gucci by Gucci wafted over me.
“I hear you’re being stupid,” Layla greeted me as she slid into the seat beside me, crossing her long jeans-clad legs and swiping my cola and straw, and taking a long drink.
“I’m not being stupid.”
“I find it hard to believe I’ve been misinformed here.”
“I’m not being stupid.”
“Hey, Cody. How long has Stupid been sulking for this time?”
“I fucking hit her, okay?” I roared.
Everyone in the bar went silent, their gazes swinging our way. I couldn’t give less of a fuck that we were being watched, but the wide-eyed look on my sister’s face was a punch to the gut. Her dark brown eyes, so like my own, exactly like our father’s, made the guilt sharper. More painful.
Years. I spent years protecting her from that shit, and now I was pulling it myself. All of my fears confirmed the second I saw Darcy hit the ground. Not only did I look like him, I was always destined to act like him too.
“I mean, technically you pushed her,” Cody piped up, unhelpfully. I glared at my best friend until he found a better use for his big mouth. Taking a long drink, he deliberately took his eyes on a wander around the bar. I wouldn’t get an apology for any of this, but at least he was backing down for now. Probably meant he’d pre-planned to tag out with Layla.
When did those two start talking, anyway?
“We’re worried you’re self-sabotaging here,” Layla said, as gently as she could. Considering her usual attitude was subtle as death metal at a wedding, she didn’t get far, but at least she tried. Maybe her public relations degree was good for something after all.
I escaped our family in the pool. Layla escaped our family by forcing the outcome she wanted. I thought she’d do well in PR. She had the drive to work for what she needed, and the charisma to make people listen. I wondered if I could help her find a job.
Layla pushed her dark hair back off her shoulder and frowned at me.
Damn it. I knew I was distracting myself from the issue, but how did they not get that I was dangerous to Darcy. The best thing for both of us was a clean break. We could both go back to our lives. I rubbed my chest to soothe the sharp pain that set off at the idea of going back to the womanizing jackoff I had been for the last few years. I hadn’t even liked a lot of the women I slept with, but it was easier than being alone.
Fuck, I was pathetic.
“What else is going on? This can’t all be about your daddy issues,” Layla pressed.
