I needed to talk to her.
I couldn’t stop thinking about her and I couldn’t sit remotely still. So as I did anytime I was having some kind of problem, I called my brother.
Of course I should’ve known before we met for brunch that he’d have no sympathy for my situation.
“You said you weren’t going to be in the Hamptons even once this summer despite owning a house here?” Julian snorted. “I guess we can say this is karma for lying to Mom.”
“Maybe if I wasn’t completely joking when I said it. I didn’t think she’d believe that I’d be gone the whole damned summer. Have I ever been away that long?”
“No, but why did you say it in the first place?”
“Knee-jerk reaction? She literally emailed me a list of her friends’ daughters who were visiting either the Hamptons or the city this summer.”
“I take it she wanted you to ‘show them around?’” Julian smirked, guessing Mom’s exact phrasing since she’d used it on him many times before too.
“Yes, and you know by ‘show them around,’ she means entertain the idea of making one of them my future wife. And here I thought she’d relax on the marriage and grandkids thing once you got married to Sara,” I muttered as I stared uselessly at the menu. I had been trying to read it since we got in, but I wasn’t processing a single word. My brain wasn’t good for shit this morning except for thinking about Aly.
“Well, I think my shotgun wedding left something to be desired for Mom,” Julian said distractedly, skimming what I assumed was a work email on his phone.
“Yeah, about that. That was a dick move on your part.”
“Forgive me. I didn’t feel like waiting to call Sara my wife.”
“God, you’re soft these days,” I said as I finally gave up on the menu and tossed the damned thing aside. Julian peered up at me.
“Why are you throwing things?”
“I can’t read that.”
“Well, if anyone could manage to graduate college illiterate, it would be you.”
I shot him a look. “I mean I can’t concentrate, asshole. All I can think about is Aly, and I have no idea how the hell you expect me to wait all day to see her.”
“She runs a business, Emmett,” Julian said firmly, ordering my usual for me when the waitress passed by. “She already hates you too, so if you want any chance of convincing her to stay for the summer, the last thing you should do is bring your drama to her place of work. Besides, you clearly need the time to cool off from… whatever the hell it was that happened between you two last night.”
I closed my eyes and breathed out hard.
“Yeah, you’re not wrong about that,” I muttered. For the sake of keeping my dick down in public, I’d been forcing myself not to think about what Aly and I did last night in the car. But now that Julian mentioned it, the memories were back in full force. I groaned into my fist as I remembered what she said about how good it felt when I spread her pussy. “Fuck,” I hissed, making Julian clear his throat.
“Yeah, on that note, I’m leaving. I’d prefer not to sit here and watch you get actively hard over Aly Stanton.”
“You’re leaving because this is the time every week that you pick up Sara from yoga.”
“Also true.”
“You know I’d be pissed about losing all my closest friends to marriage, but watching a work-obsessed sociopath like yourself get whipped has been great entertainment for me.”
“Fuck off.”
I laughed. “And you wonder why I’m stuck
hanging out with an asshole like Drew. It’s because you, Lukas – all my closest friends are wifed up now.”
“Well, hopefully by some miracle, you’ll be able to join the club soon. In the meantime, I’m out. Your friend has just arrived and I’m not interested in being seen with him right now,” Julian said.
He straightened his tie as he stood up and with a nod, greeted Drew, who was standing next to our table now with a purposely awkward, close-lipped smile. Julian gave him half a nod.
“Mr. Maddox.”