Page 45 of The Hookup
Him turning up now would make her think he cared enough about her to want to change his rules and no woman was worth doing that for.
That wasn’t how he operated.
That wasn’t what he wanted.
Nobody would ever understand his position, which was why he kept his private life private, and his love life as vague as possible.
He threaded a hand through his hair. He was reacting hastily, instead of taking a step back and assessing things in a calm and level-headed manner like he always did.
Xavier had fucked with his head with all that talk of Kay, and that stupid bet, and he’d made Luke think he might not be able to keep his dick away from Kay.
If it came to that, he’d deal with it.
Which begged the question, if Kay was just a hookup then why the hell did he get so riled up about thinking of her with Xavier?
He ground his jaw. This was bullshit. Good-Time-Kay wasn’t going to get inside his head.
He’d only been with her once, and it had meant nothing.
She was nothing, and nobody, and he didn’t need to lose his shit over it.
He pressed the button and headed back up to the bar.
Chapter 16
“You’ll be there, won’t you?” Amanda asked again.
“Do I have a choice?” He’d been there, just about, at her first wedding, a few years ago. The thought of being in the same place as his family had filled him with such dread that he’d been late to the wedding, and had missed half of the service. As it was, he’d only stayed for a short time at the reception after.
This time, he was determined not to be that big of a jerk. Amanda hadn’t ever wronged him and she needed him to be a better brother than he had been.
“Not really,” his sister replied. “I’m going to mail the invites out after Christmas.”
“I know. You’ve already told me.” At least ten times.
“Bring your plus one.”
“You already said.” He slipped his finger into the collar of his shirt, a million things playing on his mind, not least of all the bid he had put in for the Canal Street site.
“Well, I’m reminding you,” she pointed out. “Since you always forget everything I tell you.”
“That’s because I’m a busy man.” He had more pressing matters to tend to, but he couldn’t focus on them because for the last ten minutes his sister had been rambling to him about her goddamn wedding, telling him about her ceremony which would be followed by a reception at a fancy hotel.
“It’s going to be a small and exclusive affair,” she’d told him earlier, dampening his spirit because he’d hoped there would be lots of people so that he could get lost in the crowd. So that he wouldn’t have to rub shoulders with his family.
“Is that all?” he asked. “I’ve got a meeting to attend.”
“There you go again! What happened to the nice conversations we used to have?”
“We can talk all you want at the wedding.” She was already on her second marriage and he wondered how many more times she’d be putting new rings on her fingers. It was just as well that she had no kids.
“Are you coming over for Christmas?”
He scowled. She asked the same question every year, and every year he gave the same answer. “What do you think?” Christmas at his father’s mansion. An empty place, full of empty memories. Amanda and Travis might have forgiven and forgotten, but he never would.
“That one day you might change your mind.”
“I’m coming to your wedding, Amanda. Be grateful for that.”
