Page 24 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)

EDDIE

“ W hy is it so hot? June is never this hot,” Noah complained, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

The Garden was packed for a Wednesday night, but it was close to the office, and Leigh had really liked the place after going there with Aidan, and she’d suggested we all head over after work for some food, drinks, and games.

Among the pretty mirrored bar and vibrant greenery were an array of pool, ping-pong, and air hockey tables.

“It’s practically July, my man,” Max said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Time to lose the sweater vests.”

“It’s mid-June,” Leigh argued. “Don’t wish the time away. We need every second for Shadow .”

“Okay, but we’re a little ahead of schedule,” I argued, pinching my fingers together.

“Hence the mid-week celebration.” We’d also had a successful playtest on the updated Juni Protocol.

The kids had responded much more positively this time, and their feedback from this round consisted of minor tweaks that would be relatively easy to implement .

“A little,” Leigh conceded, sipping her drink. “But we can lose that ground in an afternoon if we’re not on top of things.”

“You sound like someone I know,” Max teased. “Connor’s rubbing off on you.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile like that in a meeting,” I joked.

Connor had grinned reading the surveys after the playtest. Grinned!

Like a kid on Christmas morning. He had not, however, grinned when Max had invited him along for the office hang.

His eyes had briefly drifted across the office to me, and my breath had caught, wondering if he might throw caution to the wind, come out with us, and actually have some fun.

But he’d pulled back, just like he had that day I’d stayed late, muttering something about picking up Grace.

“I think he was excited to see how the kids responded to his ideas. And yours ,” Max added. “Connor said you two spent an entire Saturday afternoon reworking the protocol.”

His eyes narrowed playfully, and my pulse skipped.

Maybe after the club, he suspected there was something brewing, or maybe Connor had said something to him about the kiss.

The way he looked at me now…he had to know there were feelings—which were made even more complicated by the fact Connor took four giant steps back every time we got close.

But I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t acknowledge it, so I simply shrugged, playing it cool. “I just asked him what Grace liked in her video games, and that opened a new narrative line.”

Noah laughed. “I thought you were joking when you said you wanted me to write a story arc for Mr. Cheesers.”

“I thought Connor was joking when he told me he was getting a pet for the office,” Max said .

“We’d never joke about our beloved rat,” I teased. “Who else is going to remind us to have a gouda day?”

“He still gives me the willies,” Leigh said, pretending to shiver.

“Even with those little whiskers? No. Oh, we’re up,” Max said, putting his drink down and hurrying over to claim our ping-pong table. We were trading off with a group of college kids in between rounds of appetizers.

I picked up my paddle, standing next to Noah, facing off against Leigh and Max. “So you never finished telling me about how things went with Aidan.”

Leigh shrugged. “We ate, we drank, we ping-ponged. It was good.”

“Is ping-ponged a euphemism for…” Max trailed off as Leigh whacked him with her paddle.

“It was a perfectly nice evening,” she said, serving the ping-pong ball.

“And you want to see him again?” I asked, returning the serve. Aidan hadn’t told me anything. But he never did because “Eddie, you know I don’t kiss and tell.”

Leigh lifted her shoulder as Max volleyed back. “I don’t know. I had fun. I just don’t know if I see anything…”

“Serious?” Noah suggested, missing his swing. He chased after the ball.

“Exactly. After Tristan, I know better than to settle for anything less than what I want, and with Aidan, the vibe isn’t really there. I mean, there was definitely a vibe, but a temporary one.”

“You know it doesn’t have to be serious, right?” I said. “Aidan can do casual. And you’re allowed to have some fun figuring things out before you jump into something long-term again. ”

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 am not sleeping 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? —

“Eddie, are you still there?” Alannah’s small voice echoed.

“Yeah, sorry,” I said, pulling myself from the memories. “I’m so sorry, Alannah. I don’t even know what to say, except this sucks and?—”

“Wait,” Alannah said, interrupting me. “There’s more. Mom said…” She hiccuped. “Mom said that we’re moving!”

“Moving where?” I said, my heart plummeting into my stomach.

“Back to Florida?—”

Florida?

“—because Mom wants to be near family. She says I have to pack up now ’cause we’re staying in a rental until the divorce is finalized. I have all this stuff in my room, and I don’t know what to take. Eddie, what do I do?”

I choked on my words. For once, I didn’t have an answer for her.

All I could think about was how much I’d loved living near my sister these past few years while I attended college and figured out what my life looked like in San Francisco.

And now it would all change. Valentina would rip Alannah away from us, dragging her across the country, and if Dad didn’t fight for joint custody, I’d be lucky to see her on holidays.

Alannah cried on the other end of the phone.

I fought off the pressure behind my eyes. “Hey,” I croaked, trying to find the bright side. “It’ll be okay. The rental might be in an interesting neighborhood.” What friggin’ bright side? “There could be cool spots for us to explore.”

“I don’t want any cool spots,” she said, crying harder. “I like my old ones. And I like my room. I don’t want to leave! ”

“I don’t think your mom would move you away before your regional competition, right?

” She’d placed high enough in the citywide competition to progress to the next level.

Surely, Valentina wouldn’t take that opportunity away from her with how hard they always pushed her.

“And if you do well in that one, you’ve got the statewide competition in November, remember?

So you’re gonna be here for months, Lana, and we can still have a great summer together. ”

“Everything is ruined,” she said, her words raspy. “I gotta go pack.”

“Don’t worry about that tonight,” I said, utterly useless. “I’ll come over tomorrow and help you after school.”

“Okay,” she said. “Bye, Eddie.”

“Talk to you later.” I hung up, feeling like a steaming pile of garbage.

Jesus fuck . I ran my hand through my hair.

I didn’t even know where to start with processing this, other than with a giant middle finger directed at Dad.

When I turned back to the ping-pong table, everyone was staring at me.

Reality rushed back in, slamming into me.

I wanted to run, but I didn’t know where.

“That didn’t sound great,” Leigh said. “You okay?”

I forced a smile, shoving my phone in my pocket. “Yeah, of course I’m good. Don’t stop the party on my account.” I gestured to my paddle. “Another game?”

“We can do something else,” Leigh offered. “Or if you want to talk?—”

“Nah, come on,” I said as Noah handed over the paddle. “Let’s go again.” If I could just have enough fun, I’d be able to keep myself from replaying that conversation in my head, and I could stave off the hurt until later.

Right ?

Right?

“Think I’m gonna pass,” Noah said. “Looks like it’s starting to rain. I’ve got a fifteen-minute walk home after the bus, so I should get going before it really lets loose.”

“Yeah, me too,” Leigh said softly. She nodded to Noah. “I can give you a ride if you want.”

“Great, thanks.”

Shit . We gathered up our things in silence. Noah and Leigh headed off, but Max hung back, nudging me as we wandered toward the door.

“Didn’t mean to put a damper on things,” I said. “Sorry.”

“You didn’t,” Max said as we reached the parking lot. “We all had a good time. And not that I was trying to eavesdrop or anything, but if it helps, there’s one person we both know with a lot of knowledge about divorce courts in the state.”

I was barely clinging to my smile. “Yeah, right. I should get going.”

Max gave me a sad smile before heading off through the rain.

I stood next to Beatrice for a long time, rain soaking through my shirt, chilling my skin. I didn’t really feel it. Everything inside me felt numb. No, not numb. Like dread was piling up, and if I didn’t find some way to outrun it, I’d be buried.

I wiped water from my face and climbed into Beatrice, slapping my hand against the ignition button before gripping the wheel like it was the only thing holding me to the earth.

I didn’t know what to do. If I went home to Cassie, she’d fuss over me while I complained about Dad and Valentina and the crappy situation they were putting Alannah through, but the idea of going home didn’t generate the comfort I was seeking.

I could find a club and dance my problems away until I was too exhausted to stand.

But I didn’t want that either. Not really .

Max’s words echoed in my head. There’s one person we both know…

Dammit. This was a ridiculous idea.

I brought up the employee contract on my phone, skipping ahead to the company directory, zooming in on an address.

Ridiculous idea.

Stupid idea .

I plugged the address into Google and took off through the rain.