Page 30 of Burden of Proof

We headed into the soup and spice aisle, and Smith collected some boxes of chicken stock and vegetable stock, some bottles of pasta sauce and some dehydrated onions.

“I thought for a while about taking my mother’s name, but she’s the one who got tired of raising me and sold me out, so…”

I knocked into him with the cart again, this time on accident.

“She what now?” I asked, eyes wide.

“I was almost a teenager. She…she’d had the offer for a while but had told Willem no, until one day she just said yes.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t think there was anythingtosay.

“And that’s what happened with all of you?”

“In varying degrees,” he said, frowning down at the contents of the cart before turning his attention back to his list. “Just need hummus and cheese, and we’re good.”

I grimaced, uncomfortable with how easily he was about to move on from admitting all of their mothers had basically sold them into boarding school for some zeroes in their bank account.

My parents had been shit, but at least they kept me. Even when I’d wished they hadn’t.

Smith set off for the last two items on his list, and I followed behind, waiting for him to say something else. When he didn’t, I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “You know you didn’t deserve that, right?”

“Yeah,” he said automatically. “But without it, I wouldn’t have Marshall and Finn and Hunter, so it was worth it in the long run.”

He sounded like he wanted to believe it, and I wanted to believe it too.

For him.

“It just…sometimes I just…” He rubbed his sternum, and the ache was so acute, I felt it myself.

“Yeah,” I agreed, not needing him to finish. “I hear you.”

CHAPTER 10

HUNTER

Idon’t know what the fuck I’d been thinking leaving that comment on Lincoln’s most recent video, but watching him jerk off for the camera had made me so hard I’d almost come in my pants. I was late to a meeting with one of the partners because I had to stop in the bathroom on my way to his office to rub one out, but I figured the only thing worse than being late would have been showing up on time with a raging erection.

After our brief exchange, Lincoln went back to ignoring me, and I went back to work with the implications that I was one handshake away from making partner myself. My mind raced at the possibility and the opportunity. Something I’d spent years working for was almost in reach, and the only thing I could think about was Lincoln and the way he cried on his knees and the way he moaned when he came all over my fingers.

How had one man thrown my life into a tailspin in barely more than an hour?

Maybe it was selfish, and maybe it was wrong. He hadn’t indicated any intention to talk to me ever again, let alone try to see me again. But I hated only having access to him in that stupid hookup app, so before I logged out at the end of the day, Itexted him my phone number. Just like the rest of my messages, he read it and didn’t reply.

At least, not until Friday, seconds after I pulled into the parking lot at Cunningham’s to meet my brothers for dinner. I caught my phone as the messages started to pour in, the final one coming in as soon as I reached the door.

Unknown

I know you’re busy.

Probably texting you right now on purpose because I know you won’t reply.

I’m so jealous of your brother and Silas.

I’ve been ignoring you because it’s like Marshall swooped in and stole my best friend and then set the bar so fucking high. And the last thing I want right now is a pity fuck. The last thing I need is a guy I paid for an hour of sex to chase me around trying to get me to talk to him about shit he doesn’t really care about. Alright?

We’re gonna be stuck together because I don’t think they’re ever going to break up, and I’m never going to leave Silas, and I don’t want to have to look at you every time I see you and think about THIS when I could think about last Friday instead.

Not that I’m thinking about last Friday. You clearly are, coming into my JOB BASICALLY and trying to ask for more than what I paid you for. What is your angle, Hunter?