One Last Time (Loveless Brothers 5)

Now everyone is looking at me, but at least no one is pointing at Eli anymore.

“Any further questions?” I ask, sarcastically.

“So you’re an expert,” Wyatt drawls, clearly enjoying this.

“Knowing that someone is married is not insider knowledge,” I say.

That’s technically true, but do I also sometimes have a drink or two and then stalk Seth, and by extension his brothers, on the internet?

Of course I do. Show me a person who’s never nosy about their ex, and I’ll show you a damn liar.

Levi, the eldest, has no social media of his own, but occasionally appears in posts from the Forest Service. A few months ago he did a short video about identifying poison ivy that got almost five hundred thousand views, some very thirsty comments, and wound up on several Buzzfeed lists. I don’t think it was because of his practical wilderness tips.

Eli, the second oldest, has all his stuff set to private, but occasionally turns up in foodie articles and whatnot around southern Virginia, including some food blog’s “Five Sexiest Chefs.”

Neither Daniel or Seth ever seems to post anything of their own, but Loveless Brewing has reasonably active social media accounts, which have supplied me with plenty of updates and pictures of the owners, even if they’re completely impersonal and designed to sell beer.

And finally, Caleb, the youngest, is a math professor at Virginia Southern University. He’s easy to find on the internet, but boring unless you’re really interested in academic papers or symposium sessions.

Georgia sighs.

“The good ones are always gay or taken,” she says, finally looking back at us instead of staring at Eli.

“Hey, I’m right here,” Wyatt says.

“You’re my brother.”

“But I’m single, straight, and great.”

“Well, hold on,” says Lainey.

I risk another glance Eli’s way, just in time to see him disappear into the back of the brewery.

I finally exhale.

“I don’t see why a simple statement of self-assurance means you both have to jump down my throat,” Wyatt says, but he’s grinning. “A modern gentleman can’t be self-confident?”

“What’s this gentleman thing?” Lainey teases.

“Lord,” Georgia mutters into her beer glass.

Ava flits off somewhere else, probably back into the arms of her sorority sisters. Thad — her fiance — has shown up with a gaggle of matching fraternity bros, and the two pools seem to be mixing.

Georgia and Lainey keep harassing Wyatt, who not only takes it in good cheer but eggs them on. Secretly, I think he likes the attention from Lainey, but I know better than to say that out loud to either of them.

He’s literally just pulled up his sleeve and is flexing his bicep, presumably to prove that he’s a catch, when I hear my name yelped.

“Delilah!”

It’s Ava, and before I can even react she’s next to me, a whirlwind of blonde hair, her arm shooting straight past my face.

“That one is Seth,” she says, smacking her other hand on the table for emphasis. “Right?”

I grab her arm and haul it to the table.

“I’m gonna cut you off if you don’t stop —”

Well, fuck. Ava’s right this time.

That one is Seth, and he’s standing behind the bar with one hand on his hip and the other in his hair, the same gesture he’s always made when he was trying to get a handle on a situation.

And then, he looks at me, probably because my little sister is being a total lunatic.

I feel like the air’s been squeezed from my lungs. It takes everything I’ve got not to duck under the table, but I don’t. I just go silent and stare back, mouth open, holding my sister’s hand on the table like I’m trying to keep a toddler out of my drink.

Finally, I just shut my eyes.

“ —Pointing at people, and yes, that’s Seth, congratulations on getting it right this time.”

“They really do look alike,” muses Georgia.

“Right?” says Ava. “Can I have my hand back?”

“Are you going to point at him like he’s a dancing bear?”

“I just wanted to make sure you saw him,” she pouts.

“Thank you,” I say, diplomatically. “I saw him. That is indeed Seth. Were there any further questions?”

She leans in toward us, her blond hair dragging across the table, and stage-whispers again.

“Sometimes he’s here at night,” she says. “I lied earlier! Bye!”

Just like that, she’s gone, back to her giggling friends. I feel a little bit like someone just shone a very bright light in my eyes and demanded that I perform long division, but despite that, I don’t look over at where Seth was again.

I’m over here, and he’s over there, and I’m going to drink the remaining third of my beer very quickly and then leave and everything will be totally fine.

“So,” Lainey says brightly, her spine straightening. “You guys watching any good TV right now?”

Bless her.I wait ten minutes, and then I force myself to wait one more, just to prove that I’m a mature, adult woman who doesn’t leave a room just because Seth is across it, pouring drinks behind the bar.