Page 35 of Wanting the Winger

He hums, considering.“I don’t know.We just haven’t talked in a while.Have we talked since the engagement party?I know I texted to make sure you were okay the next morning because you got so hammered.”

That headache lasted two days.

“You should have called me.”I run a hand through my hair, pacing into the kitchen.“I knew I should have punched that smug bastard when I had the chance.”

“I guess I need to talk to Lainey,” he says.

“Yeah, you do.Today.”

“She’s doing okay otherwise?Mom said her research thing’s going well.”

My jaw refuses to unclench.“I don’t know because she hasn’t talked to me in more than a week.”

“Oh yeah, you never told me what you did.”

“I told her Shane’s not good enough for her.”

A pause.“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“You’ve said that to her a lot and she usually blows you off.”

“Not this time.I think she might have cried.”

He exhales hard.“Shit.Okay, I’ll talk to her today.”

“Let me know how it goes.”

“Bash, I’m just pulling into the office, but is there something else going on with you?You sound different.”

It’s the worst possible time to tell him.Or is it the best?We’re on the phone, so he can’t punch me.And he has to go, so he can’t yell at me for the next hour.

“I might have feelings for Lainey.”

I hear him opening his car door, and then the other end of the line goes deathly silent.“Eric?”

“Youmight?”The car door closes again.Shit.

I square my shoulders.It’s time to man up.“I do.”

“What kind of feelings?”

My laugh is humorless.“You don’t want me to go into detail, trust me.”

“Jesus fuck, Bash.I have to tell my sister her fiancé is a piece of shit later today.If you fuck her when she’s vulnerable, I’ll never speak to you again.”

I scowl.“What the hell kind of guy do you think I am?I’d never do that.”

“You saidfeelings, which for you means one thing.”

I shake my head, the truth really sinking in now that I’m saying it out loud.“Not this time.”

“Bash.”He’s agitated.“I have a meeting.I can’t talk about this right now.Are you sure?Because seriously, when you turned her down for prom, she was devastated.If she thinks there’s a chance and then you fuck her over?—”

“I was twenty-one and she was seventeen!”I yell.“If it got out I took a minor to her prom, the league would have put me out on my ass!”

“That wasn’t the reason you said no, and we both know it.”

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