Page 62 of Had To Be You

“If you think we buy that, you must be drinking your bath water. You thrive on bad days at the office. It’s what gets you off, so let’s try this again. Why the mood?” Parker asks, leaning forward on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees.

“You expect me to believe your fiancée hasn’t told you?” I say, assuming Ellie has talked to Olivia by now. It’s been almost two days since the proverbial rug was swept out from underneath me and work has been the only thing I’ve managed to accomplish since. Work is the only thing keeping me going. I’ve managed to suck hard at everything else in my life.

“Tell me what? Olivia hasn’t mentioned a thing except for the usual shit I hear every day. You know: Parker, you’re hot as hell. Parker, your dick’s so big.”

I roll my eyes. Why are these two still here and why won’t they stop talking? Talking is shit that women do. I sure as hell don’t feel like hashing out the entire story and then getting my ass handed to me for not seeing it coming. I blow out a breath, slouching back into the couch.

In the end I decide the only way to get them to leave is to confess everything and get this over with. Now or never. Do or die.

“Ellie and I broke up.”

“What? I didn’t see that one coming,” Miles says, his cocky grin replaced with a look of confusion.

“I didn’t either,” Parker says. “What the hell happened?”

“Ellie’s married. That’s what happened,” I say, causing both of my brothers to look at me like I just told them I’m taking up knitting while learning to sing on a tennis court.

“You’re joking, right?” Parker asks, confirming that Olivia really didn’t tell him. It makes me wonder if Ellie has told her. If Ellie has told anyone.

“Why the hell would I joke about something like that? I’m dead serious. She married Mason-fucking-Ford six years ago in a Vegas ceremony, drunk out of her mind. Didn’t remember a thing.”

“The Mason Ford? QB of the Green Bay Packers?” Miles asks, with an open mouth stare. His eyebrows raise and then drop back down again in astonishment.

“The one and only.”

“Shit.” Parker shakes his head.

“Yup.”

“Well, you definitely have to give her credit for the Mason Ford part of the story. The guy is a legend. What was she doing with you after landing a guy like that?” Miles laughs, looking from me over to Parker, clearly enjoying the rise he’s getting out of me. Now’s not the fucking time, asshole.

“Fuck you,” I tell him, emptying my beer and cracking open a new one to drink away the sting of the pain. I shouldn’t expect anything less from Miles, he’s been giving me the gears since we were kids. “I’m not in the mood for your jokes.”

“You have to admit it was funny, though,” Miles says, peeling back the label on his beer bottle in little, tiny pieces. I must be completely fucking out of it because I can’t even find the strength to care about the scraps of paper that are falling to the floor.

“Not even a little. The guy can throw a solid pass but he’s obviously a total dick off the field. He has to be to leave the chick he married the night before in a Vegas hotel room, and then ghost her for six straight years after that.” The guy deserves my fist in his face for not manning up and taking her calls. For ditching her in Vegas in the first place. I’m obsessed with hating him. I fantasize about running him over with my car.

“Ouch. He really did that?” Parker asks.

“According to Ellie,” I answer grudgingly. “He had an appointment with me today in my office if you can believe it. Ellie walked in right in the middle of it.”

“What was he doing in your office?” Parker asks.

“Ironically, he was in my office to discuss filing divorce papers. How effed up is that? Apparently he was flying in for one day only to get the divorce started. His assistant chose my firm because we are the best in Reed Point, and they knew she lived somewhere around here. We didn’t have time to get to the rest of it though because Ellie practically dropped dead on my floor at the sight of him.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Or did he come looking for you on purpose wanting to meet the guy who’s sleeping with his wife? I think that would make you the mistress. Or… I guess the mister in this case?” Miles chokes back a laugh, then continues on at my expense. “Was he pissed that another man has been banging his wife all this time?”

Not amused, I flip him off and take a pull of my beer. They can laugh all they want. None of it matters to me anymore. Ellie’s no longer mine. She’s not my problem. She can ride Mason Ford off into the sunset for all I care.

“Well at least we’ve gotten down to the real reason you are a miserable bastard. Now what are we going to do about it?” Parker asks.

“What do you mean what are we going to do about it? Zip, zero, zilch. It’s over. She can live a long happy life with her husband. I’ll send them a belated wedding gift,” I say, the grip on my bottle so tight, my knuckles are turning white. “Those two deserve each other.”

“You don’t really mean that. Take a deep breath, bro. You wouldn’t be this upset if part of you didn’t really feel something for her. This can all be fixed.”

“Why in the world would I ever want to fix this? She’s a liar. I’m done, man. It’s over.” Because you know she didn’t mean to. You know she is a good person who is only guilty of making a stupid mistake.

“She’s not a liar, she just didn’t give you the full picture. There’s a difference,” Parker says, raising his beer bottle to his lips.

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