Page 24 of One Night Seduction

He laughs bitterly.

“You’ve been a grumpy ass all day. You seriously pissed that I showed up? Bro, I came to talk you out of whatever weird reunification thing you and Kelly are trying. She hurt you, and she doesn’t fucking deserve you. I’m sorry, but it’s true,” he says, lifting his hands in defense.

I don’t dispute anything he says as he continues.

“But imagine my surprise when I show up and notice that you spend more time looking at your ex-stepdaughter than your ex-wife.”

I feel my heart rate spike as I try to maintain my unaffected demeanor.

“What are you talking about?”

Tyson just stares at me, like he’s waiting for me to come clean. Fat fucking chance.

He shrugs. “You just don’t seem to be spending much time with Kelly, that’s all. I thought you wanted to get back with her?”

“When have I ever said that?”

“I don’t know, why are you here then?”

Shit. He’s got me there.

“It’s complicated,” I say cryptically.

Tyson narrows his eyes.

“Uncomplicate it.”

I shake my head.

“C’mon, dude. I’m your brother,” he says.

Still, I stay silent. Tyson waits a few more seconds before shaking his head with a disappointed sigh. He makes his way out of the kitchen and to the backdoor, beers in hand. Running a frustrated hand through my hair, I huff in irritation before tipping back my bottle and draining the last of my beer.

Chapter Eleven

Arianna

Ty hands me a beer, and I smile in gratitude. I’m telling him about my classes and my ass of a professor when I see Logan emerge from the house. We all noticed him stomp off away from my mom. I felt bad for her. The way she was watching him, like the love of her life was walking away forever. It also made me feel a thousand percent more guilty, because if she knew that her daughter fucked her ex-husband…twice…forget disowning, she’d straight up kill me.

When Logan sits down, I don’t miss how he intentionally sits beside my mom, so close their legs touch. She looks up at him, newfound hope in her eyes, and surprisingly, he smiles down at her. It’s not a wide, breathtaking smile, but those rarely cross his face.

Something inside me, no matter how small it is, squirms at that. Something just…doesn’t like his attention on her, his focus. Which is so fucking stupid because it should be on her. That’s why he was invited, why he showed up…right?

My mom nuzzles into Logan’s side, and the two begin talking intimately. Forcing my eyes off them, I try to focus onTy or my Aunt Marissa. Whoever is talking that isn’t my mother or Logan. The twins end up heading inside to watch a movie, and Marissa and Tom follow suit. Me? I’m still sneaking glances at Logan and my mom, waiting for the inevitable kiss to come and waiting with bated breath to see if it will upset me, even though I have no right for it to. It’s a special kind of torture that I’m truly hating every second of.

A shoulder bumps into me, breaking my stare as Ty smiles down at me.

“You good?”

I do my best to muster up a smile of my own as I nod.

“Yeah, I’m great.”

He looks at me like he doesn’t believe me when his eyes catch on the old treehouse. It’s been there ever since we started coming here. It looks to be in decent shape, which is surprising. I used to play with the twins up there all the time when they were little. Sometimes, Ty would come up and join in too.

“What do you say we have a campout for old time’s sake?”

I lift a brow at him.

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