But guys?
They could get in line. I was strong, and I could do without them. And that made me perfectly intimidating. A strong man should hold up a strong woman, not run from her.
I’d thought for a while that Landon Wright might be the kind of guy who did that. The kind of guy I couldn’t live without.
But I was wrong. I was carrying on without him.
Or maybe…I’d been wrong all along.
Maybe this was called survival…not living.
Twelve
Landon
A date.
Heidi had a fucking date.
God, I’m an idiot.
Why hadn’t I guessed before? Of course, she would move on. She was the full package. Any guy would be lucky to have her. I knew that for a fact. But I hadn’t thought it would happen so soon.
While I’d been busy healing and getting my life together, she’d been running off and trying to find someone else. And I couldn’t even blame her. I wanted to. I wanted to break shit and demand for her never to see this fucking douche bag again. I wanted to make things right. To see where this relationship could go. I wanted her to be mine.
Jealousy burned through me like a fire-breathing dragon. I couldn’t even see straight as she walked right out of the building and out of my life.
I should have told her about the divorce papers. I should have told her about the injury. I should have told her about why I had moved back and why I needed this job.
But I hadn’t wanted to blurt out everything that had happened to me. I didn’t want her to think, just because I was leaving Miranda, that automatically meant she should fall into my arms. I didn’t want to scare her off. Like I just had.
All I wanted to do was get home and relax. Let my mind do absolutely nothing for a little while. I had physical therapy nearly every day, but on Mondays and Fridays, I went in before work, which meant I could chill tonight.
And obsess over Heidi’s date.
About an hour after I entered my new one-bedroom apartment and changed out of my stupid suit, I got a text from Austin.
Drinks?
I sighed and leaned my head back on the couch. A drink sounded nice. Maybe it would be better to go out rather than sit around at home and watch ESPN.
Yeah. Where? When?
Patrick and I are going to West Table in a half hour.
Why?
West Table was one of the fanciest restaurants in town. They had a nice bar and coffee shop attached to the building, but it wouldn’t have been my first choice.
Patrick is talking to the bartender. She’s hot.
Ah, well, that explained it.
Count me in.
I slipped into my standard khakis and a polo and exited the apartment. I’d left my car in Tampa, and I was borrowing Jensen’s Mercedes for the time being. I sank into the dark interior and turned on a local radio station before I sped away.
After the day I’d had, I was glad that Austin was offering a distraction. Patrick was always a good time even if he egged on Austin’s base qualities. But they had known each other their entire lives and were both still bachelors. I was pretty sure that Austin was because he pushed away any girl who seemed to care about him, and Patrick lost interest in the blink of an eye. A lot of girls flitted in and out of their lives, and no one took any of them seriously.
Though Jensen was certain that Patrick and Morgan had a thing. I couldn’t imagine the least serious person I knew ending up with the most serious person I knew.
I ended up at West Table about ten minutes later. I saw Patrick’s Lexus SUV already parked on the side of the building, which was good because then Austin wasn’t driving. I parked behind them and entered through the side door. The lobby to the building was white marble flooring, a sky-high ceiling, and an enormous staircase. The coffee shop was off to the left, and the restaurant was on the right.
The hostess brightened at my approach. “How many?”
“I’m just meeting some people at the bar,” I told her.
“Certainly, sir. Right over there,” she said.
I flashed her a smile and then found Austin and Patrick at the bar, each with a glass of whiskey in front of them. A tall, sexy brunette was standing behind the bar, deeply engrossed in whatever Patrick was saying. She was in an all-black outfit with her cleavage gloriously on display. I could see why Patrick was into her. She was right up his alley. Though, with Patrick’s track record, I doubted it would go anywhere.
“Hey,” I said, sidling up next to Austin.
“Hey. What’s up?” Austin said.
“Hey, man,” Patrick said. “Good to have you in town. I haven’t had a chance to see you around the office yet. Is it weird, working at Wright?”
“Yeah, a little weird,” I conceded.
Patrick worked for Wright Construction, too. He crunched numbers and dealt with expenses, and at the beginning of the summer, he had been promoted to a more managerial role. I gathered that he made more money and worked less.
“Well, Austin thinks you’ll be playing golf again soon. We’re all rooting for you.”
“Thanks,” I said. I turned to the bartender before I could curse my back again. “Maker’s Mark, neat.”
“You got it,” she said, reaching for the bottle.
“Oh, yeah. Landon, this is Mindi. Mindi, this is Austin’s brother Landon.”
She winked at me. “Nice to meet you. You’re the younger brother, right?”
“I am,” I confirmed.
“Cute. I like brothers.”
I tilted my head at her, trying to see if I was gathering what she was signaling. Her lips curled into a mischievous grin. Yep, I wasn’t wrong. She was definitely interested in a threesome.
She was clearly Patrick’s type. Crazy. He loved them crazy.
Austin elbowed Patrick. “Hear that, man? She likes brothers.”
Patrick shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. I’m down.”
He could say that since he didn’t have a brother.
Mindi giggled and topped off his drink. “You boys are silly.”
Patrick grinned at her. “That, we are.”
“Hey, did you see your girl was here?” Austin asked, clapping me on the back.
“My…girl?” I asked in confusion and also borderline panic. The last time one of my brothers had said something like that, Miranda had flown in from Tampa to corner me.
“Yeah, dude. Check it out,” Austin said. He pointed to a table across the room from us.
And there was Heidi. On her date. With some douche bag.
My jealousy, which had subdued in the time that I allowed myself to be distracted, flared up again like an inferno. One second, I had been laughing about Patrick’s new crazy girl, and the next, I wanted to walk over there and interrupt Heidi’s date.
Who the fuck was he anyway? I’d never seen him before. Not that I’d lived in Lubbock for a while.
“Wait, what am I missing?” Patrick asked. “Who is Landon’s girl? God, help us all, not Miranda.”
“Nah, dude. Heidi Martin,” Austin said, filling him in.