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I’m an ass.

“Girlfriends are a waste of time.” My voice comes out colder than I mean it to. “Just give me the farm and you’ll never have to think about it again.”

“That’s not likely,” Brody grumbles.

“Come on! Just let me get something good out of that fucking place. I was there too, you know. I suffered too.” I look from one brother to the other, not letting them off the hook. “I have as much right to that place as either of you. And at least I want to do something with it.”

Brody gets up and walks away from the table.

“Fuck.” He kicks the foot of the bed.

Then he turns back. “Fine.” He raises his hands up in the air. “Do whatever the fuck you want.”

Then he walks out, slamming the door behind him.

A huge weight lifts off my chest. I turn to Bryce.

He chews on his bottom lip. “Fine. But I’m doing it with you. This project was our idea. You’re not kicking me out.”

I exhale a huge sigh of relief. I’d rather be doing it with him. Managing the bar is easier when sharing the responsibility with someone I trust.

“Deal.” I raise my beer and he knocks his against mine before we drink. “Brody will get over it.”

“Sure,” Bryce says, “because he gets over things real quick.”

He’s got a point there. But I don’t care. I’m not going to hold my life back because my big brother can’t get over his daddy issues.

“I invited him to dinner tonight,” Bryce says. “Hopefully, he won’t still be sulking by then.”

“Um… Look, about dinner tonight. I don’t think I can make it. I’m meeting with Henry tomorrow and I want to be prepared.”

“So? You have hours to prepare right now. You’re not backing out of this. Scarlett and Amelia need it. Did you see the look on Amelia’s face when Ethan and Charlotte started making out. I offered to clean up for her after the party just so she could get away from them. Not that you’d know being so busy with…”

My heart pounds in my chest. Bryce really has no idea about Amelia being the woman from last night. And why would he? He doesn’t think so lowly of me.

And he doesn’t bother explaining why Scarlett needs a night with friends. We’ve spent the last eight years doing everything we could to cheer her up, even when we weren’t feeling it ourselves after Wyatt died.

“Fine, I’ll go,” I say, ignoring his raised eyebrows.

Chapter Thirteen

Amelia

It takes all of five minutes after dropping Chase off at school and going for coffee at the Grove Grind Cafe for me to find out the latest gossip.

Blake had a girl over at his place yesterday, and the entire bar heard them.

Well, I did ask for it.

I want to bury my face in my hands as Avery whispers to me in a conspiratorial tone, but that would make it too obvious. My only consolation is that no one seems to know it was me. It would be all over town if they did.

“We need to find out who she is,” she says, handing me my to-go cup. “I hope she’s nice. If not, we should really try to find him someone. He’s too good to spend the rest of his life alone.”

“Yeah.”

I don’t know how I keep my face calm enough to avoid detection, but I do. I take my cup, and Avery waves me goodbye, none the wiser.

It puts me in a good enough mood that I’m able to momentarily forget about my embarrassing freak-out yesterday. Until I get to the agency and find the door unlocked.