Page 158 of Really Truly Yours

Slow my—

I raise my fist, the note paper Sydnee scrounged up rather than text—no doubt so I couldn’t see it and stop her—poking from its curl. “She left!”

“What!” Avery’s hand flies to her mouth. “Sydnee?”

“Of course, Sydnee!” I slap my hand onto the quartz countertop. “And this is my consolation prize!” Releasing the paper, I comb my fingers into my hair. You’ve been generous…

Avery creeps toward the note and tilts to read. Hands it to Tripp, who skims and sets it back down. “I’m sorry, Gray.”

My hands splay on the counter. I stare at a white swirl in the mostly gray surface. “I don’t understand. Why would she leave me?”

Acute silence pulls my gaze up to find one of Tripp’s pointed looks.

“What?”

“You have no idea?”

It feels like a trick question. “No!” I barely censor the four-letter word that utter frustration bounces to the tip of my tongue.

Tripp examines me like I’m one of his bad guys. Avery whirls and pops a coffee pod into the machine, wearing a strange look prior to the pivot.

“Hey, what’s up with you two? What are you not telling me?”

They exchange glances. “You really don’t have the slightest clue, do you?”

I search back and forth between the pair. Avery’s eyes are sad. My brother’s? I might slug him for the you’re-an-idiot look in his.

The paper crinkles beneath my fingers. “Clue. About. What?”

Across the island, Tripp leans onto his hands, same as me. “Are you telling me you can’t think of a single reason why you might not be her favorite person this morning?”

I lift my chin. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Nothing happened last night that could have upset her?”

“Nothing! I mean, we had a little misunderstanding yesterday morning, but we worked that out.”

One of Tripp’s eyebrows ascends. Avery verbalizes the question. “What kind of misunderstanding?”

Like it’s any of their business. “I got a little…eager. Shared some things with my family that made her uncomfortable. Not that that’s difficult to do with Sydnee, let me tell you.” I rake my hair again, What’s the point of keeping it kempt now? “But we talked stuff through, and everything was fine.”

“What about yesterday evening?”

What is Tripp getting at? “If you got something to say, say it.” I wedge the last part through glued-together teeth.

Tripp has a slim build, but his arms are beefed up. Folding them, he hikes his chin. “What about the woman?”

I pull back. “What woman?”

They snort in unison.

My patience dwindles. “What. Woman?”

“The blonde you left with?”

“Left where? I didn’t leave anywhere with anyone!”

“You sure enough left the suite, and this woman went right along with you.”

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