Page 112 of Rebellious Hearts

“You okay, there?” Luke asked.

He had no idea what monumental shift had just happened inside me.

“Fine,” I said and cleared my throat. “I just… Where’s your sister?” I glanced around. I wanted to get the attention away from me and it was weird that Luke and I were alone for this long. Usually, Luke and Amy were together, inseparable as they’d been since the day of their conception.

“She’s on her way,” Luke said. He glanced toward the door. “Oh, speak of the devil. Here she is now.”

We both glanced at Amy, who stormed into Jester with a scowl.

“And on the warpath, it looks like,” Luke said. He glanced at me. “Which one of us fucked up?”

“Ben!” Amy snapped.

“That would be me, I guess.”

Amy marched to me, wearing jeans and boots and a frilly boho top that made her look soft and approachable. But her expression was hard as nails, her light blue eyes nearly turning to ice.

“What did I do?” I already felt like I should apologize even though I had no idea what was going on.

“What the fuck were you thinking, leaving Sofia in the lurch like that?”

My uncertainty gave way to anger.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Of course it’s my business. Jesus, bro, don’t you have a heart in there somewhere? She’s fucking pregnant and you’re head over heels in love with her and you just want to be amonetarysupport?”

“Woah,” Luke said. “This is a little above my pay grade.” He started to stand, but Amy pinned him with a glare, and he sat down again. There was no doubting who was in charge between the two of them, and Amy looked like she wanted to eat both of us for breakfast.

“Sofia’s pregnant?” Luke asked when he sat down again. “You forgot to mention that to me.”

“That’s because he doesn’t want to be a part of the picture,” Amy said hotly.

“That’s not what this is,” I argued.

“Then what is it?” Amy asked.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Luke asked.

I shook my head and gulped down half of my new glass of whisky. I needed the strength this alcohol could give me. I wasn’t ready to deconstruct this whole mess, but Amy looked ready to pull it all apart, and now Luke was on my case, too.

“You can’t just leave her to figure this shit out on her own,” Amy said.

“You’re not going to stick by her?” Luke asked. “Come on, dude, that’s not right.”

I gritted my teeth. “Gang up on me, why don’t you?”

Amy shook her head and sank into a seat, finally making me feel like I wasn’t staring down the business end of a gun. She had a way of making a man sweat bullets, and I felt sorry for the guy who tried to take her on.

Luke settled into his seat, too, and I sat down, but I stayed perched on the edge of mine. I took another sip of whisky.

“I was going to tell you when I was ready to fucking deal with it,” I said to Luke. “It’s not just something you blurt out along with talking about the weather.” I glared at Amy. “And you don’t have the right to take me on about this when you don’t know the full story.”

“Doyou?” Amy challenged.

“She doesn’t love me, okay? It was all fun and games, we played pretend to get the stupid contract. But joke’s on us because we didn’t get it anyway. So whatever. Let it go.”

Amy narrowed her eyes at me. “What makes you think she doesn’t love you?”