Page 23

23

LACEY

I’ve just gotten home from my Thursday morning class. I have a few hours before my shift at Jolie starts, and I’m opening the fridge to see what I can have for lunch when the doorbell rings. Théo’s in Vegas for the NHL Awards that happened last night, and he’s going to fly from there to Vancouver for the draft this weekend, so he won’t be home until Monday. I scoot to the door to answer it, expecting Taylor and Byron inviting me to go for a walk on the beach, or maybe Manny wanting to hang out, and throw open the door with a smile.

I freeze in shock at seeing Théo’s brother.

“Uh ... JP. Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Théo’s not here.”

“I know. He’s in Vegas.”

“How’d you know that?”

“Everyone knows that. I saw him on TV last night.”

I saw him on TV too, looking so handsome and professional in his suit and tie.

“Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”

“Why me?” I stare at him as I move aside to let him enter the condo.

He walks in. “Because you know Théo. You know what’s going on with him.”

“Uh ... yeah.” I’m not sure what he’s talking about. I move around him and lead the way to the living room, gesturing at the couch. “Have a seat. Can I get you anything? Coffee?”

“Nah. I’m good. This is a great place.” He crosses to the big couch.

“It is.” I sit in an armchair. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“Did he tell you about ... Emma and me? What happened?”

“You mean when you both betrayed him and stabbed him in the back?” I narrow my eyes at him. “Yes. He told me.”

He winces. “I need to know something.”

I chew on my bottom lip. “What?”

“What did Théo tell you about Emma? About how things ended?”

I think back. “He said he found her cheating on him with you. He said ... you were staying with him last summer. Visiting Vegas for a while. He came home early and found you two on the couch ...”

JP hangs his head, nodding. “Did he tell you that he’d already broken up with her before that happened?”

I frown. “No.” I squint at him. “I don’t think that makes it much better, frankly, if you’re looking for forgiveness.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not what I’m looking for. I know I fucked up. Big-time.”

“Yep.” I nod firmly. “But in any case, no ... they were still together when that happened.” I pause. “Weren’t they?”

“Emma told me they weren’t. She told me she’d ended things with him, because she had feelings for me. We’d been hanging around for a couple of weeks, mostly with Théo, but sometimes just she and I would do things ... chill at the pool, or go to a show when he was busy. There was an ... attraction between us.” He swipes a hand over his face and looks away. “I was at Théo’s place when she showed up. She said she came to get some of her things she’d left there. I know I shouldn’t have hooked up with her, regardless, but it was hard to resist when she was right there coming on to me, and she’s really hot and she was telling me how great I was compared to Théo ... who’s always, always been better than me at everything.”

My eyes fly open wide. I stare at him. Then I slowly stand and move over to the couch to sit next to him, my heart swelling with sympathy. I can imagine Théo was a hard older brother to live up to—not only athletically talented, but brilliant. And insanely gorgeous. But I say, “I’m sure that’s not true.”

“It’s true. And I lost my mind.” He shakes his head. “It’s okay, this has all just proved that point. He is better than me.” His tone is laced with bitterness.

I actually do feel sorry for him, even though he did a terrible thing and hurt Théo. “Backing up, though ...” I say slowly. “Emma lied to you about ending things with Théo.”

“Apparently. Théo didn’t exactly want to have a conversation about it. He kicked us both out. We drove back to L.A. together. He wouldn’t talk to me about it.”

“Do you blame him?” I level an incredulous stare on him.

“No.” He sighs. “I get it. But ... I just found out that Emma recently told him the same thing ... that we’d broken up.”

“Ohhh.” I nibble my bottom lip. “How did you find out about that?”

“Everly.”

I suck in a long, slow breath and let it out. Well, I never told her that was a secret, and she was talking about trying to help JP and Théo get past this. I don’t know if Everly told him she heard it from me, though. “I see.”

“She wanted to get back with him.”

I nod. “Yeah. He told me.”

“Oh. Okay. Wow. That’s ... great.”

“Why is that great?”

“Obviously you two have a strong relationship if he can be that honest with you.”

“Oh. Yeah. Théo is an honest person.”

“Yeah. He is. Of course he is.”

Annoyance flares inside me. “You know, Théo hasn’t exactly had things easy his whole life.”

JP looks up at me. “You mean his injury.”

“Well, yeah, that was a pretty big blow. Especially to a guy people didn’t believe could play professional hockey.”

“Everyone always knew he’d play in the NHL. He’s a Wynn.”

“They didn’t always know that,” I say quietly. “ He didn’t always know that. You know about the kids that made fun of him when he was young. But maybe not about the hockey coaches who didn’t want him on their teams.”

“What?” He frowns. “Didn’t want him on their teams?”

I nod. “Yes. Your parents probably sheltered you from that.”

“Shit.” His eyebrows pull together. “I did know about the bullying. I stuck up for him when kids called him names and made fun of him. I was two years younger though, and some of those kids were big. Once I got in an actual fistfight.” He grimaces. “I took a shit kicking.”

“You did that for Théo?” I gaze at him in awe.

“Yeah. He’s my brother.”

I press a hand to my heart, my eyes brimming with tears. “You two really need to talk.”

“You think?” He meets my eyes. “I had to find out ... if it was true or not that Emma had ended things with him. Because then she lied to me ... twice.”

“Are you in love with her?” My heart beats faster, hoping he’s not, because damn, this woman has really messed things up for two brothers who really love each other.

He closes his eyes and exhales sharply. “I don’t know.”

I set a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. It hurts.”

The door opens and Théo walks in.

He stops short at seeing us. His face goes stiff, his mouth a harsh line. “What the hell is going on here?”

I jump up. “Théo! You’re not supposed to be here.”

He scowls. “I can’t fucking believe this.” He glares at his brother. “What the fuck, JP?”

JP stands. “Théo.”

“Why are you back?” I rush over to hug him, happy to see him but confused.

He shakes his head, his face rigid, his expression forbidding. He steps back from me.

I stop, my heart lurching. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” He waves a hand at me, then JP. “What’s wrong?” This comes out as a near bellow.

Oh. Oh no. He doesn’t think ... oh my God. “No, no, Théo.” I grab his arm. “It’s not what you think.”

“Where have I heard that before?” he snaps. “Fuck this.” He turns and heads back to the door.

“Wait! Théo, wait, seriously, this isn’t anything.”

“Get back here and talk to us,” JP calls. “Bro, you’re being a dumbass.”

Théo stops, then turns his head and says over his shoulder, “Yeah, I sure as hell am.”

Then he grabs his suitcase and slams out the door.

After a shocked beat, I run after Théo, my feet bare, out onto the sidewalk. The sand there is cool beneath my soles and I skid in it, nearly falling. I parked Théo’s car on the street when I got home, and he’s already there, tossing his case into the trunk and yanking open his door. “Théo! Stop!”

He shakes his head. “Got a flight to catch.”

I watch him drive away, my mouth open, my eyes wide. What the hell?

I turn back to JP, who followed me to the door.

“Well, shit,” he says. “Does he seriously think we were screwing around on him?”

“He can’t possibly think that. If he does, he’s an idiot.” I well know he’s not an idiot, but sometimes very smart people can be kind of clueless. I roll my eyes. “I’ll call him and explain things.”

“Okay. Shit.” He presses his thumb and fingertips to his forehead. “What the hell is he doing showing up?”

“Uh, he lives here.” Never mind I had the same reaction. “You can understand why he’d be freaked out.”

“Yeah, but this is different.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him. I’ll tell him that you’re ready to ... apologize to him.” I study him. “You are, right?”

“Yeah,” he mutters.

I nod. “Okay.”

He nods glumly. “Sorry to cause problems. I just came here to ... I don’t know. I wanted to confirm I’m right about Emma and I was right to tell her I never want to see her again.”

“You told her that?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, good.” I blow out a breath. “Okay, when Théo gets back from Vancouver, we’ll all get together and sort things out. It’ll be fine.”

JP leaves and I sink down onto the couch. My heart hurts that Théo could actually think I would do something like that—cheat on him. Cheat on him with his own brother. I hate that he’s hurting. But I’ll explain things, and it’ll be fine.

I go grab my phone out of my purse and call him, but it goes to voicemail. I leave a message. “Hey, it’s me. You are being a dumbass. Call me back; we need to talk.”

By the time I have to leave for work, he still hasn’t called. Okay, he’s probably on a plane and can’t. I send him a text that he’ll get when he lands.

JP came to talk to me about Emma. He knows she’s a bitch who lied to you both and they broke up and he’s ready to apologize to u. U 2 need to talk.

I hit send.

Then I type more.

And if u think I was cheating on u with ur brother, u really are a dumbass.

Send .

I still haven’t gotten a reply by the time I’m done working at nine.

Now I’m getting pissed.