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Was I not supposed to say that?Well, maybe she doesn’t see him that way…

“You’re proving my point.”She smiled.“You like him and he very much likes you.But it’s okay to take it slow.Or to not take it at all.Don’t let Jeremy steamroll over you.Make sure he hears what you’re saying—no matter what that is.”

“He seems like a good listener.”God knew, I’d had his rapt attention this morning when I’d word vomited my relationship with Hank to him.

“He is.”Marcie drew out the words.“But sometimes he hears what he wants to hear—not what you’re actually saying.I guess that’s my biggest caution.Be certain you’re on the same page.”

“Mom, I’m starving.”Thaddeus barreled into the kitchen with a grinning Wally hot on his heels.

Marcie gave my hand one last squeeze.“Get Raphael and Jeremy.Everyone wash their hands.I’ll heat up the chicken and buns.We’re having Caesar salad, and you’re not whining.”

“But, Mom?—”

She held up her hand.“Remember the super-secret dessert?”

Thaddeus fist pumped the air.

“Clean hands.”

He bolted.

She rose.Just before she stepped away, she said, “My brother’s a good man.You’re worthy of him.Hell, he might even be worthy of you.”With a little chuckle, she headed over to the food.

Chapter18

Jeremy

“Whoever this is,it better be important.”I hadn’t bothered to check call display because, at what-the-fuck middle of the night, it didn’t really matter.

“If this is a bad time?—”

“Don’t hang up.”I scrubbed my face.“What’s going on, Andreas?”I glanced at the clock.Oh, only twenty minutes after midnight.Hell, some people might not even be in bed.

After a day’s activities with Phillip—from the walk to the sticky buns to my nibblets to wondering what the fuck Marcie had said to the poor guy to dinner—it’d been a long day.Wally had crashed shortly after eight.At that point Phillip begged off and I, having decided I’d had enough, called it quits as well.

Sleep had been quick in coming, but now this call boomeranged me into wakefulness.I sat up and scrubbed my face.“Do you need bail money?”

“Uh…”

“Fuck, Andreas, you better not be using your one phone call on me.”I started wracking my brains for lawyers I could rouse at this hour.Slim pickings in Gaynor Beach, but I knew a few in LA who were happy to take serious cash?—

“It’s not that.”

I let out a long breath.“Well, that’s a relief.Did you beat someone up?Did someone beat you up?Did?—”

“He leaked our private photos to the tabloids.Tommy Tucker just texted me to confirm and asked if I wanted to make a statement.”

My brain screeched like tires on pavement when the brakes were applied too hard.“Back up.Who leaked what?”

“The guy.”

“The one who beat you up?”

“Yes.”

“Leaked what photos?Of you with a black eye?”We can still spin this.Make it look like?—

“No.Not those photos.”