One Last Time (Loveless Brothers 5)

“They’re trying to sabotage my dick detox,” I sigh. “Vera’s being Vera about it, and I’m sure Ava thinks she’s helping somehow. I don’t even know why she dragged you into it. You might be bait to get me to come here. I’m sorry.”

She takes another drink and looks around, frowning slightly.

“Wyatt’s your cousin, how are they sabotaging — oh, shit,” she says, as it finally dawns on her.

“He’s not here,” I say. “Remember, it’s a drunk twenty-two-year-old’s plan.”

“And she doesn’t know.”

“Fuck no, she doesn’t know,” I say. “She thinks we were high school sweethearts and that’s it, not…”

I trail off, because there’s not a word for what Seth and I are. At least, there isn’t in English. German probably has a word for people who were together a long time ago and have repeatedly and unwisely hooked up in the years since, even though their brief couplings inevitably lead to anger and heartbreak.

“Fuckbuddies?” Lainey offers.

“We’re not really buddies.”

“Fuck… compatriots?”

I contemplate this for a moment. I also contemplate telling her about our non-fight this afternoon, but I don’t really feeling like doing it in his bar, while I look over my shoulder every ten seconds to see if one of my sisters is listening in.

“It’s technically accurate,” I finally say.

“Just one of the many services I offer,” she says, and clinks her glass against mine, then glances up. “Quit talking about Wyatt’s weird chin, he’s coming back.”

“Now I know you’re just fucking with me,” Wyatt says, sitting and grinning at Lainey, who’s clearly enjoying herself. “My chin is perfect.”

He rubs his face like he’s in a shaving commercial, and Lainey laughs. Georgia, once more seated next to Wyatt, rolls her eyes at her younger brother.

“Chin jealousy,” he says. “Totally normal. I get it. I’d be jealous of my chin. It’s great chin.”

“Sure, that’s it,” laughs Lainey. “You know, this sort of over-the-top self-aggrandizing behavior can often be defensive —"

“LAINEY! HIIIIIIIIII!”

Ava’s back, and she sits with a whirl of blond hair and the feeling that the energy at our table just went from six to eleven.

“Hi,” Lainey says, grinning at my adorable and drunk little sister. “Congratulations on your wedding! You nervous?”

“Oh, my gosh yes,” Ava says, wide-eyed, both her hands around a half-empty glass. “When we did the rehearsal a few days ago, one of the bridesmaids tripped on some flower petals, and the ring bearer got distracted by something on one of the chairs, and I’m really worried that the band might miss our entrance cues or play the wrong song! I saw it happen at one of my sorority sister’s weddings a few months ago and it was awful.”

Lainey’s smiling politely, trying not to laugh.

“I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time even if something does go wrong,” she says, soothingly. “It’ll give you something to laugh about later.”

“Everyone keeps saying that,” Ava huffs, brushing her blonde hair out of her face. “But I don’t want something to laugh about, I want something — oh!”

She squeals the last word, then points so emphatically that we all grab our beers and turn our heads, expecting a loose bear or at least a squirrel.

It’s not an animal. It’s a person, and he’s looking directly at us.

For a split second, my insides feel like they’re falling through the floor.

“DELILAH!” Ava whispers so loudly she’s probably audible in Richmond, arm still outstretched toward the bar, finger extended. “IT’S SETH!”

“That’s Eli,” I say, grabbing her hand, putting it on the table, and turning my head away from where he’s standing behind the bar.

Ava frowns dramatically.

“Are you sure?” she says, still several decibels too loud. “I think that one’s Seth.”

She’s trying to point again. I hold onto her wrist so she can’t.

“Yes, I’m sure, and for the love of God stop pointing,” I hiss. “Were you raised by wolves?”

“It looks like Seth,” she says, dubiously.

“Well, they’re related.”

“Is Seth also kinda hot?” asks Georgia, who’s sipping her beer and casually observing Eli, like she’s in a box seat at the opera.

“Please quit gawping like he’s a tiger in the zoo.”

“They’re all kinda hot,” Lainey offers. “That’s their whole thing.”

“I’d like you to elaborate on all, if you don’t mind,” Georgia says, eyebrow raised.

She does not quit gawping, though at least she’s doing it somewhat politely.

“There are five Loveless brothers,” I explain, carefully releasing Ava’s wrist. She doesn’t point again, but I keep an eye on her. “Two of them own this brewery, one of whom I dated when we were in high school.”

“But they’re mostly married,” Lainey offers, then looks at me and jerks her thumb at Eli. “Is that one married?”

“That’s also pointing,” I hiss.

“He looks like he’s got a ring,” Georgia says.

“He’s kinda far away to tell,” Ava adds.

“He’s married,” I interrupt, already imagining Eli telling Seth that Delilah was at the brewery and her little sister was acting like she was on safari and he was the world’s last rhinoceros. “That one’s married, the middle one is married, and the oldest one’s engaged.”