Page 28

SAMMIE SET A bottle of bourbon down on the table as Atticus flopped back in his chair.

“That was fucking brutal,” Atticus whined. His sister rolled her eyes as she filled both of their glasses.

“That’s the service industry,” Sammie replied. Her voice was laced with exhaustion that mirrored Atticus' own. “You’ve got your little pampered volleyball life while my people are over here actually working every day.”

“Don’t be an ass,” Atticus said, sipping his bourbon.

He really wasn’t supposed to be drinking, his nutritionist would have a fit if she found out, and his coach would rip into him about staying sharp for the game in a few days.

But damn, after bartending all night, he really wanted something to take the edge off. As a treat for all his hard work.

Sammie only smirked in response to his bitching.

She looked tired though. More tired than Atticus had seen her in a long time.

Shoulders slumped as she leaned forward in her seat, elbows braced on the table.

Her heavy-lidded gaze seemed more weighted than usual, dark circles under her grayish blue eyes, her brow almost constantly creased .

“You okay?” Atticus asked after a long moment of silence. His sister let out a slow sigh.

“Yeah,” she finally said, running a hand over her face as if she could wipe the exhaustion away, tucking her shoulder-length dark hair back behind an ear.

“It’s just been a long couple weeks. It’ll get back to normal soon.

” Sammie paused, chewing on her words a bit before finally letting them out. “Thanks for coming to help tonight.”

Atticus grinned wide. “I know I saved the day, you don’t have to say it!”

Sammie rolled her eyes, hard , but there was the normalcy that Atticus was looking for. There was the twin he didn’t feel like he needed to worry about.

Except that he did, a lot. He worried that Sammie overworked herself every day to keep the brewery running, worried that she never set aside enough time to have a life outside of her career.

“Do anything fun lately?” Atticus threw the question out and hoped for a positive answer. He didn’t get one. Sammie waved an arm toward the mess left throughout the bar after their final rush before closing.

“What do you think?”

“‘Same,” Atticus said, his voice dipping toward something more serious. “You need to get laid.”

He earned a hard, sharp look for that one.

“No,” his sister said, “I don’t.”

Atticus flopped back dramatically in his seat. “Fine! But you need to do something to let out all that tension.” He gestured vaguely toward Sammie. “It’s radiating off of you so hard I’m afraid it’s going to infect me or something.”

“Like you don’t have your own shit you’re freaking out about.”

Atticus sat back up, tried to keep from squirming. Sammie was too good at that. At getting right to the heart of whatever was banging around in Atticus' head at any given moment.

“At least I’m having fun,” he replied with a wink. “Have you talked to Kieran lately?”

And suddenly the tables had turned.

“Couple days ago,” she said, pointedly not making eye contact. Atticus smirked. “He had to make the grain delivery himself.”

“He looked good, didn’t he?” Atticus asked teasingly. “Got that good farmer’s tan from helping out back home. And damn, those arms he has from volleyball and farming!”

“Please shut up.”

“Imagine the two of you,” Atticus continued. “He comes here for a delivery after hours, it’s just you and him and a bunch of machinery. He says something cute about helping his ma and you just can’t help yourself anymore, pushing him up against the counter to ravish hi-”

“No fuck no!” Sammie nearly screeched as she cut him off, slapping her hands over her ears. “Stop making it sound like porn!”

Atticus laughed hard, reaching out for the bottle to refill their cups. He didn’t miss the smile that his sister was trying to hide.

“I think it could be good for you,” he said, voice still teasing even if his words were more serious. “Get over this whole pining phase and just ask him out.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” Sammie crossed her arms, a sharp eyebrow raised at him.

Again, right to the heart of things.

“Touché.” Atticus took a long drink, savoring the taste in an effort to stall. He chuckled as he set his glass down. “In my defense, things might finally be going somewhere.”

Sammie only stared at him, a bored expression that told him she didn’t believe him. Atticus took it as a sign to continue .

“There’s been some,” he began, “ things that have happened this week.”

“Do not go into detail,” Sammie said. “I’ll kill you.”

Atticus frowned, pouting. “Why does everyone say that to me?”

“Because you’re a menace and you probably need to be muzzled.”

He thought for a moment. “I wonder if Kai would be into that?”

“Jesus christ,” Sammie breathed out, leaning forward to let her head fall onto her arms on the table. Atticus decided not to tell her that some of her hair had landed in a puddle of spilled beer.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry,” he laughed. “I’ll be serious.” Sammie lifted her head so that only her eyes were visible.

“I don’t believe you.”

“I will!” Atticus insisted. “I’m such a good brother, I’m even going to ask you for advice! My wise, sage, serious twin.” He paused, raising his cup. “I need your help.”

“With what?” Sammie asked, finally relenting and sitting back up.

“Well…” Atticus chewed on his lip. The lighthearted candor seemed to evaporate from within him. He felt a little nervous. “I’m not sure actually.”

Sammie’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me what’s going on, just don’t get weird about it.”

Atticus pressed a hand over his heart. “Promise.”

And so he did. He told his sister everything that had happened over the last several days, careful not to go into too much detail. It wasn’t like he needed to. Sammie was always good at reading between his lines, at seeing the things that Atticus maybe wasn’t quite ready to say out loud.

His sister sat back after Atticus finished, draining her glass as he did and waving a hand toward him .

“He did a good job,” Sammie said.

Atticus stared at her. “What?”

Another hand wave. “On your hair.”

“Oh,” Atticus said, reaching up to mindlessly run his fingers through the freshly-bleached strands. “I guess he did, didn’t he?”

“Do you love him?”

The question slammed into Atticus, caught him fully off guard. And he knew, he knew , that his sister had done it on purpose. Had distracted him with the first comment to get him to inadvertently spill the truth.

Atticus bit his tongue to keep from blurting out the answer, and Sammie only raised a knowing brow at him.

“I think you should probably tell him,” she said.

Atticus couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer. “I said I’d give him time to think.”

Sammie shrugged, tugging at her tight black shirt as she rose from her chair. “You did. But it sounds to me like all he does is think. Maybe you can give him that much so he doesn’t have to think, doesn’t have to wonder about it.”

“Is that what you’re going to do? Just tell Kieran exactly how you feel?”

Sammie frowned. “Get off your ass and help me clean this place up so we can leave. You staying at my place tonight?”

It was already late, later than Atticus had planned to be out.

There was still so much to be done, and his drive home wouldn’t be a short one.

Normally, it would be a given, spending the night at his sister’s apartment in the city.

But after how he’d left things with Kai, after the moments they’d shared in his cramped little bathroom, Atticus sort of wanted to see where the night might take them.

A yawn broke through his train of thought.

“You should stay,” Sammie said, walking away toward a closet full of cleaning supplies. “You’ll see him tomorrow. ”

Atticus let out a sigh. She was right. And he had to admit, the idea of being in a nice fluffy bed soon instead of on the road with his eyes slipping shut from exhaustion sounded wonderful. He pulled his phone out, shooting Kai a quick text to let him know he wouldn’t be home that night.

As Atticus rose from his seat, a spray bottle and wet rag were shoved into his hands.

“Wipe down the tables and chairs,” his sister ordered.

“No need to be so bossy!”

“You’d never get anything done without someone telling you what to do,” Sammie hollered from back behind the bar. “I hope Kai bosses you around all the time.”

Atticus thought back to words Kai had breathed against his skin. Good boy .

“Actually,” he yelled back, an obnoxious grin spreading across his face. “Earlier today…”

By the time Atticus finished his story, Sammie was once again begging for him to shut up.

Atticus: How’s our girl doing

Kai clicked a quick picture. The kitten was currently curled up in his lap, and had been for the last hour while he’d been playing a game on his laptop.

Kai: Attachment

Atticus: Awwwwwwww

Kai: Had to fight with her to get the medicine down her throat .

Atticus: Just a couple more days of it

Kai: Ear isn’t red anymore, so it’s working.

Kai: You make it to Sammie’s place?

He set his phone down, going back to his game while he waited for a response. Kai hated to admit, even to himself, that he’d felt a good amount of disappointment at finding out Atticus would be spending the night at his sister’s place. But it was a good thing. Probably.

Kai frowned as he sniped another player from across the map. It was a good thing that he and Atticus were apart for the night . It gave him time to think, like he’d promised Atticus he would. If the other man had come back home, had walked in the door with that cheeky grin and those bright eyes…

After the last twenty-four hours they’d had, Kai wasn’t sure he would have been able to keep his hands to himself.

That worried him. His body kept reacting to Atticus in ways that were hard for his mind to keep up with.