Page 34 of A Matter of Fact

“I want to talk to Callahan,” he whispered.

“He’s also rich, remember?”

“Not about this.” Rhys shook his head. “About…I owe him an explanation.”

“Rightttt.” Sebastian slowly moved the straw on his drink out of the way and raised it to his lips.

“I’m not ready though.”

“Alright.”

“I don’t know why I told you that.” Rhys cleared his throat and shook his head, adjusting his posture and searching for the will to finish his meal.

“I’m not going to tell you not to.”

“I don’t want him back.” Rhys frowned. “It’s not like that.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t even matter if you did. He’s in love with someone and it isn’t you.”

Another truth that still managed to sting. He should be happy for Callahan. Hewashappy for Callahan, but at his core, he was jealous. Not because he wanted to be in Jace’s shoes, but because he wanted to be happy. All Rhys wanted was the tiniest scrap of happiness for himself that couldn’t be taken away from him at his father’s whim. The realization that he would have to cut the cord became clearer. He would have to do what Callahan and Sebastian had done before him.

He’d have to walk away from the only life he’d known.

“He said he would talk to me?” Rhys asked.

“Callahan?”

“No. Jace.”

“He said as much.” Sebastian tapped his phone.

“What else did he say?”

Sebastian laughed quietly and put his phone back into his pocket. “He had some colorful words. But he’s my friend, and he’ll do it because I asked.”

“I don’t want pity, Sebastian.” Rhys reached for his drink and finished it off, regretting that he’d sent the waiter away without getting another.

“Oh, my God, you are too much sometimes.” Sebastian pulled his napkin off his lap and threw it on top of his plate. “People just do nice things for people. They don’t ask for anything in return. It’s called being a good person.”

That had not been the case in Rhys’s experience.

“Let’s go then.” He stood up and pulled two hundreds out of his money clip and dropped them on the table. Sebastian hadn’t stopped laughing at him, but followed him out of the restaurant to the waiting car.

Sebastian gave the address of the cafe where Jace worked, and Rhys stared out the window until they arrived. He needed to act quickly and decisively before he talked himself out of going inside. It wasn’t that Jace intimidated him. Jace was a literal nobody as far as Rhys was concerned… or at least that’s what he wanted to tell himself. At the end of the day, Rhys had treated Jace like shit, and Jace was a far better person than he was. Than he would ever be. And maybe thatwasa little intimidating.

He sensed his brother beside him and watched him open the door to the small coffee shop. He could smell the beans, the pastries, the flavored syrups. The whole space smelled comforting and homey when Rhys felt anything but. He felt out of place and he hated it. His mouth tipped down into a frown just as Jace looked up from the counter.

The other man had been smiling, but his expression fell when his stare landed on Rhys and Sebastian, but he steadied himself and tried to school his features. Rhys could see the discomfort in his face, from the twitch at the corner of his eye to the tight set of his jaw.

“Let me get the timer for my break,” Jace said in lieu of a greeting. His frown deepened and he went into the back.

“This was a bad idea,” Rhys said to Sebastian.

“You’ll be fine,” Sebastian promised. “I’m not friends with assholes.”

“You’re friends with me.”

“I’m your brother,” Sebastian corrected.