Page 53 of The Grump I Loathe

Leigh hummed. “Maybe you’re right. I just want some no-strings-attached great sex.”

“Woman!” Max said. “Why didn’t you say so?”

I barked a laugh, Noah turned beet red, and Leigh rolled her eyes. “Not with you,” she said.

“Why not? I could rock your world from five to nine. And think of the convenience. You just give me a little whistle across the office, and I’m there.”

“One,” Leigh said, “you’re the playboy of the year. How could you possibly make time for me?”

Max smirked.

“And two, Connor’s ridiculous no-dating policy.”

Max caught my eye across the table, and a prickle of heat raced up my neck. “It is a ridiculous policy, isn’t it?” He turned his attention back to Leigh. “But we don’t have to call this dating. Just…advanced relaxation techniques.”

“I amnotsleeping with you, Max.”

“I’ll just leave the offer open. Eddie, has Cassie mentioned me?”

Leigh huffed in disapproval.

“In what capacity?” I asked.

Max flashed me a cheeky grin. “Any.”

I snorted, pulling out my phone as it started to buzz in my pocket.Alannah. “Hold that thought,” I said, passing Noah my paddle. “Hello?”

“Eddie?”

I stepped away from the table, jamming my finger in my ear to hear her better over the din of music and one very competitive air hockey game. “Hey, Lana, what’s up?”

“Eddie…” she said again, and I could hear the stutter in her words. The sound of a voice breaking.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, my pulse immediately speeding up.

Her only answer was to break into sobs.

I frowned, whirling away from a rowdy group of college kids. “Lana, why are you crying?”

More sobs.

“Hey, I can’t help unless you tell me what’s wrong.”

She sucked in a choppy breath.

“That’s it,” I said. “Catch your breath and start at the beginning.”

“Mom and Dad just got back from the lawyers,” she said, her words still garbled with emotion.

Lawyers?

“They did it—they filed for divorce.”

My jaw dropped. I don’t know why the words came as a shock, but they did. Suddenly, I was seven years old again, feeling the impact of that word for the first time.

Divorce.

The end of what you thought your life was and the beginning of a bunch of adult bullshit a kid had no business being dragged through. I couldn’t believe Dad had done it again. I knew things with Valentina were rocky and that they’d been fighting more than normal, but I didn’t actually think?—