by Arthurs, Nia
His eyebrows slant together. “Are you?”
“What?”
“Happy? With me.”
Right now. As in… in this moment? No. Not really.
“I am. Over-all.”
That’s the truth. It took a while. And maybe I’m not red-hot, passionately in love with Damion, but who needs that kind of messy, mind-bending, soul-snatching experience anyway?
What we share is steady. Solid. Reliable.
As soon as Damion gets his break, I won’t have to pay for dates anymore and we’ll be able to purchase a nice little house in a suburb somewhere and start building a family.
“I’m happy the way things are.”
“I’m not.” Damion shakes his head. “I want more.”
More.
More than me.
I’m not enough for him.
His lips press together. “I wish things were different. On paper, you’ve got everything I want, Zania, but I just…”
A lump forms in my throat.
Builds and builds until I can’t breathe.
I need to get out of here.
The chair scrapes noisily against the floor as I rise.
Damion’s brown eyes hike up.
Struggling for composure, I clutch my purse to my body. “I understand.”
“I’m sorry,” Damion says again.
As if I’m the pitiful one.
As if I’m the loser.
And I guess I am.
Turning, I stumble out of the restaurant.
Tears blur my vision.
I’m hurt. Angry.
I want revenge.
Not against Damion.
Against the guy who took my virginity and then skipped town without a word. The guy who left me so desperate and vulnerable I clung to the first man who showed interest.
No, I don’t blame Damion.
I don’t even blame myself.
I blame a man with blue eyes and a wickedly roguish smirk.
I blame Teale.
Chapter 3
Teale
“What’s with the screw you expression?” I ask. “Aren’t you happy to see your brother?”
“Where the hell have you been?” Ollie growls, dark blue eyes searing into me.
“Here and there.” I smirk. Ollie knows where I’ve been. He peeps my IG account whenever I post a picture so I’m not buying this clueless act.
My brother folds his massive arms over his massive chest. The scowl on his face is an Oliver Landry staple. Paired with his ink sleeves and overall brooding, Grim Reaper personality, I have no idea how he scored a woman as dainty and glamorous as Chandra.
Not that I’m still bitter about that.
I may have been interested in Chandra when we first met, but the better man won.
I point to Brew Drop’s front door. “You gonna let me in or…?”
“Nah.”
My patience goes thin. I shuffle back. “Then what the hell did you call me here for?”
“Shut up and give me a hug man.” Ollie’s grizzly expression shifts into a smile. He wraps his arms around me. Gives me a hearty squeeze. “It’s been too long.”
“Whatever.” I slap his back once. Push him away.
He holds on for a second more, just to piss me off. When he steps back, he clasps my shoulders. “You look good, bro. A little scrawny, but what can you do?”
“I can still take you.”
“In your dreams.”
“If I saw your ugly mug in my dreams, it’d be a nightmare.”
“Keep talking smack. I’ll lay you out.”
“Bring it on, brother.” I say, only slightly joking.
It’s been a while since me and Ollie have gone head-to-head. I love my brother, but there are moments I want to tear him down a peg or two. Maybe just to prove that I can.
He’s always been bigger. Stronger.
He still is.
But I’ve got an annoying habit of getting back up when I’ve been slammed to the ground. Probably because our dad did his share of pushing me around when I was a kid.
Ollie grins before our conversation can get any tenser. “Come in. Everyone’s excited to see you.”
I follow my brother inside Brew Drop Coffee Shop.
The wide-open space is fitted with tall tables, colorful chairs and huge bookshelves stuffed with tomes no customer has bothered to crack open.
The lights above the display counter are on, but the platters inside are empty. Tomorrow, they’ll be filled with cupcakes, brownies, and cookies.
All scrumptious.
All perfect.
All created with love by Zania’s dainty hands.
Zania.
I wonder how she’s doing.
The last time we met, I took her virginity.
It wasn’t intentional. Wasn’t planned. Wasn’t… smart.
Let’s just say I broke one of my rules. I messed with a girl who didn’t know how to play the game. It’s not my usual m.o. It was a jerkish move.
Which is why I’m a little nervous about seeing her tonight.
Ollie leads me into the kitchen.
My eyes bounce from the very pregnant woman standing in the midst of all the stainless steel appliances to the man balancing precariously on a ladder while trying to hang a banner from a hook in the ceiling.
“No, babe. More to the left,” Cobie says. Slender hands move up. Lift her bouncy black curls. They jostle and bounce against each other before falling against her back
“Here?”
“No. Wait. It doesn’t look good. The right.”
He dutifully inches the other way. “Now?”
Cobie clutches her round chin. Sultry brown eyes flash on Griffin’s butt before she grins. “Oh yeah. I like that.”
“Griff, Cobie’s staring at your booty,” I taunt.
Cobie swings around. Sees me. Grins. “That’s my booty. I can stare if I want.”
“Woman’s got a point,” Griffin says. He climbs down from the ladder and joins his wife. A tan arm winds around her.
I nod at Cobie’s swelling stomach. “I heard my prodigy is ready to pop out of the oven.”
“Prodigy?” Cobie plants a fist on her wide hip.
“You do know what the word means, right, Cobie?”
“I’m not stupid, Teale.”
“You calling my wife ‘stupid’?” Griffin puffs out his chest and glowers.
He’s so whipped for Cobie.
Not that I’m against that.
When I first heard about Griffin’s unrequited high school crush, I was rooting for him and Cobie even though we all thought he had no chance of meeting her again.
Then he did.
And she fought him tooth and nail before she eventually admitted to loving him too.
Took ten years but Griff actually made it happen. He married the girl he’d been in love with since he was a teenager.
He’s allowed to overdo it now.
“No, sir. I’d never insult a lady.” I point to her stomach. “This is between me and my student.”
“I don’t want you teaching our baby anything.”
“Are you calling me a bad influence? Because… you’d be right.”
“Is that Teale I hear?” A woman emerges from the room to the left. She’s tall. Ebony-colored skin. Big brown eyes. Long black hair.
Stunning.
“It is you!” Chandra sprints forward. Leaps at me. Grabs me in a tight hug.
I know she’s my brother’s girl so I force my thoughts away from how soft her body feels against mine and how good she looks in that sexy red dress.
Like I said, the better man won.
That doesn’t mean I’ve gone blind.
“Teale!” She pulls back quickly. Looks me up and down. Sisterly affection glimmers in her gaze. “No wonder Ollie was so giddy today.”
“I’m never giddy,” Ollie argues.
“You so were.” Chandra’s bright smile is blinding. “When did you get back?”
/>
“Yesterday. I stopped by my mother’s first. Spent the night.”
Ollie nods in approval. “Good move.”
I shrug. Mom’s my heart and soul. I jet-set around the world and see her only a handful of weeks out of the year, but I’d give her every dime in my bank account and every drop of blood in my veins.
She’s had a hard life.
We all did, but she took the brunt of it.
Chandra steps away from me and cuddles close to Ollie.
My surly brother melts like a freaking puppy.
It’s, honestly, disgusting.
“Baby, I can’t find the lighters we bought,” Chandra coos.
“Did you check?”
“I did, but I think we might have left them at home.” Chandra pushes out her bottom lip. “I really wanted to set them off when Zania brought Damion.”
I perk at the sound of Zania’s name. “What’s going on? Who’s Damion?”
“Zania’s boyfriend,” Cobie says.
“Boyfriend?”
Cobie giggles. “Well, he’s her fiancé now.”
“Right.” I don’t know why I’m so surprised. For a while, I’d felt real guilty about how I left things with Zania.
Looks like I was stressing for nothing.
“What do you think of our poster?” Cobie gestures to the banner overhead.
I tip my chin up. Study the giant, oddly-stretched picture of Zania kissing the cheek of some nerdy-looking punk in a blazer and skinny tie. The words beneath the photo read ‘CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HAPPY COUPLE’ in the ugliest font on Microsoft Word.
I cough. “Did Cobie design that?”
“What is this? Roast Cobie Day?” The petite, mom-to-be laughs so I know she’s not really offended.
Chandra nods. “She did.”
“I think it looks great,” Griffin says.
“Love really is blind,” I mumble.
Ollie laughs.
Chandra snickers.
Even Griffin cracks a smile.
Cobie’s natural hair salon has been racking up awards, but Griffin handles all the business’s marketing needs for a reason.
“Everyone was busy so it landed on my shoulders at the last minute. Should I take it down?”
“No,” Ollie says. “I think Zania will get a kick out of that.”
Chandra turns her phone over. Presses a thumb to it. Turns it on. “Speaking of, I wonder when he’ll propose. Maybe after dessert like you did?” She arches an eyebrow at my brother.
Ollie blushes from his neck to the roots of his hair.
I wasn’t there when that particular milestone happened, but Cobie caught the whole thing on camera. My not-a-romantic-bone-in-his-body brother went all out for his proposal last month.
He hired a violinist, rented a yacht and even had fireworks.
Overboard.
He went overboard.
But I get it. Chandra’s used to dating men like me—men with enough money to spend on crap like that. Ollie saved up for months just to over-do it, but to him it was worth it… because to him, she’s worth it.
“Whenever he proposes, I know Zania will be ecstatic. She’s been waiting a long time for this.”
Ollie and Griffin exchange glances.
The ladies are too caught up in their excitement to see it, but I do.
Before I can pull one of the other men aside ask what that look is about, a voice trembles from the front.
“Hello? Guys?”
Everyone stiffens.
The girls’ eyes go wide.
Chandra’s gaze slams into me. She mouths, “Move.”
A light flips off.
A balloon gets shoved into my hand.
Footsteps patter.
Soft.
Then louder.
I hear the others scrambling around.
And, suddenly, the light flashes on.
Everyone screams, “Surprise!”
A party horn fills the air with its annoying squawk.
Confetti rains.
Falls.
And then… awkward silence.
Because Zania is there.
But she’s crying.
Upset.
There’s no ring on her finger and no fiancé at her side.
* * *
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