Page 73 of Broken Brothers

That was oddly complimentary, and I tried to take a chuckle out of it. But I didn’t have much interest in digging too deep into it, partially because of how guilty I felt about what had just happened.

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel attracted to you, Claire,” I said, bringing a soft smile to her face, one I hated to bring down. “But I just can’t see you like this. I made a mistake before that I don’t want to repeat. So… I hope you didn’t take me inviting you out the wrong way.”

Because what’s happening right now is the right way. It’s how I wanted it to go when I texted you drunk last night.

And now I feel like a massive asshole. At least you didn’t tell me everything. It would have put me in a bad spot if you had.

“I understand,” Claire said, and it looked like she did. “My offer is still on the table, though.”

I laughed, appreciating her honesty. At least she didn’t have any bones about it. At least she put it on the table.

“I may take it up, just not tonight and probably not tomorrow,” I said. “OK?”

Feeling like there was no reason to stay, especially since we had no place to go but down, I pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to Claire.

“Use this to pay the tab,” I said. “I’m gonna go. Are you good?”

She nodded, a couple of tears falling down her cheek.

“Message me if you need anything.”

Well, almost anything.

I leaned over, kissed her on the forehead, wiped away her tears, and made my way for the exit.

I don’t know why I did what the fuck I did, but at least I had pulled away before the damage got too severe. But then again, was it really damage if Claire had no intention of falling in love with me?

Or was that blissful naivity in the same way that I had with Layla, where I was convinced I would never fall in love with a curvy woman like her but instead ended up blurting out that I loved her?

Claire has her shit together way more than you ever do. If she wants to remain distant, she will.

I opened the door, stepped out the front door, and tried to act as normal as I could when I saw Morgan crossing the street, walking toward me.

31

Well, fuck.

This is either going to be a hilariously innocuous conversation or I’m about to get my ass whupped.

Probably both if my slowly tipsy ass can’t keep my mouth shut.

“How’s Claire?” Morgan said with a sly smile.

I shrugged, trying to play the part of nonchalant, ignorant man. Morgan smirked right back at me and then playfully shoved my shoulder.

“I know she’s inside, you know.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, she told me she was going here tonight. I was just going to drop in and see how she was doing. There’s no way that you were both in there and didn’t see each other.”

Well, now I was kind of fucked. Not only did Morgan know I had seen Claire, he would now probably wonder why the hell I had lied about knowing she was inside. He examined me up and down, as if testing to see if I would crack, but it was too early in the conversation to do that.

“We talked for a bit. She seems fine. Stressed, but what do you expect from the CEO of a growing company?”

I shrugged again, trying to mimic the action from just moments before in the hopes that it would no longer look suspicious. I had a feeling I was failing miserably in that regard. Morgan laughed casually, almost… I daresay maniacally.

“You know she likes you, right?”