Page 125 of Broken Brothers

“I hope so,” I said, although I was happy to hear someone give their two cents in my favor, even if they had absolutely nothing to base it on other than an outsider’s opinion.

“I just think your brother recognizes what’s happening with your father,” she continued. “He realizes that Edwin Hunt is being terrible. He may want to stick with him, but Morgan’s not an idiot.”

“Sometimes,” I said with a weak smile.

Layla just laughed. The bartender came by and Layla ordered us another round. The pause in conversation gave us each a chance to reset.

“I guess I really do only invite you out when my life is stressful, huh?”

“Ah, don’t sweat it,” she said. “I know you. You probably have a bounty of girls you can run to instead of me. I’m the one you come to for emotional support.”

Well… no, not really.

In times like these, when I knew a girl was saying something to pry some sort of information out of me, I had found that silence was the best policy. It unnerved the person enough into changing the subject or talking so much that they gave me something safe to say.

Problem was, Layla was not like most girls.

“Do you?”

I laughed.

“That’s a hell of a question to ask your former lover,” I said.

“I know,” Layla said. “But you also made a promise to me. I don’t believe you’ve kept it, and I’m not mad at you for it after what happened. But I’d be lying if I said I haven’t forgotten that you believed in us enough to make that promise.”

Promise me you’ll love me no matter what happens.

The words came to mind as quickly as she had dropped the hint of them. She had followed that up with sex and tears, a combination that no girl who wasn’t a sociopath would ever fake.

I had tried to dismiss those words in the aftermath of what had happened, but now that the aftermath to the aftermath had happened… well, shit was a little bit different now, wasn’t it? And if I meant what I said, that would have included honesty, no matter how uncomfortable, right?

“You really want to know,” I said.

“Yes,” she said.

“Alright,” I said.

Answering this question had never gone well for me. Never.

And yet here was Layla, dragging the truth out of me. Well, a man owned up to the truth, and I was prepared for the truth to splinter us back apart.

“I am seeing one girl but it is nothing serious,” I said. “She has adamantly expressed she is not looking for anything long term. I care about her as a friend because of some things she is going through, but we will likely never be together.”

Layla nodded for a few seconds. I just drank as slowly and calmly as I could for the situation, which was to say not too well.

“Anyone else?”

Sarah. But she’s not even here…

“No,” I said. “Sure, I might be on dating apps and such, but I’m not seeing anyone else besides that one girl.”

I almost slipped up and said I wasn’t talking to anyone, but that would have been a lie. I still had to wonder how Layla would react when she found out Sarah Hill was back around.

For that matter, I didn’t know why I felt like Layla had to know about Sarah. She’d dragged the idea of Claire out of me in a moment of weakness, but she wasn’t going to get much more out of me.

“And you?”

I said it reflexively but regretted it immediately.