“So he has been tapping that,” Lincoln exclaims. “Ford said—”
“Shut up, Lincoln.”
“Graham was just about to ask me for advice,” Barrett tells our brother.
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Good thing I stopped by then. I feel like this is my area of expertise,” Lincoln says. “Women are my thing. I mean, look at it. I’m the one that’s engaged and a little Landry on the way. Bring it, G.”
“I don’t need your advice.”
“So we’ll give it to you without you asking,” Barrett quips. “Does that make you feel better about it?”
I groan, putting my head on the table.
“You go first,” Lincoln tells our brother. “We’ll save the best for last.”
“Lincoln, you’re still on a thin fucking line over this wedding bullshit.”
“I can’t help it you don’t have balls,” Lincoln sighs. “When I see what I want, I go for it.”
I’m not sure what happens, but I hear a scuffle and the two of them start laughing. When I look up, they’re looking at me. “Okay, G. What are the problems with Mallory?”
They’re both looking at me, their gazes affixed on my face. There’s no way out. I’m as stuck in this situation as I am in the one with Mallory, only with this one, I see a way out. It’s going to be painful and potentially humiliating, but there is a way.
Sucking in a breath, I say, “The problem with Mallory is there isn’t one.” Neither of them respond immediately and that annoys me. “Are we done here?”
“Nope,” Lincoln says. “So, just let me get this straight, she does like you? Right? Not saying you aren’t all—”
“Knock it off, Linc,” Barrett laughs. “What’s stopping you, Graham?”
“It just won’t work.”
“I told you I have tips to fix that,” Lincoln winks. “They also make these pills . . .”
I sigh. “Look, guys, I appreciate your desire to help. I do. But I don’t need help. I just need . . . to figure it out.”
Barrett leans against the table, his watch clinking against the wood. “When you meet the right one, it’s never easy. There were a number of women I was with and it was so fucking easy,” he says. “They did what I said. They had the right last name or were on the right track to add to my persona for public office.”
“Or they wore black fishnets,” Lincoln grins.
“And that,” Barrett says, pointing at Lincoln, “is how you know they aren’t the right one.”
“True.” Lincoln takes off his hat and twists it around backwards. “What Barrett is saying is true. With Dani, it wasn’t easy. Hell, it’s still not. She tells me when I’m wrong and sets me straight. And then we had the whole baseball thing. Shit is complicated. The key is—”
“Wanting to figure it out instead of just replacing them,” Barrett says, smiling at Lincoln. “It’s when you’d rather take all these problems, all this headache, and fight for it because when you imagine another woman’s perfume on your skin or someone else’s smile looking back at you . . .”
“You can’t.” Lincoln smiles at me. “Someone told me once that maybe I couldn’t have the job and the girl. Maybe you can’t have this delusion that it ‘just won’t work’ and whatever that fucking means, which is stupid, by the way, and the girl. You’re gonna walk away with one of them, G—your dumbass excuses or Mallory Sims. You pick.”
The door opens and Ford and Huxley walk back in. I’ve never felt more relieved to see a kid in my life.
“This isn’t over,” Li
ncoln warns.
“Did you have fun?” Barrett asks Hux.
“Yeah.”