That Secret Crush (Getting Lucky #3)(78)

Harper shakes her head. “I don’t believe it for a second. He’s good at putting a mask on—you should know that by now. And do you know what you have to do to strip that mask off? Stride in there with every ounce of confidence you have, do your job like the amazing woman you are, and show him that he’s the one who is missing out; he’s the one who should be hurting.”

“I really like that plan,” Rogan says. “I love my brother, but he needs to get some sense knocked into him, and I couldn’t think of a more perfect person to do it. He’s always thought he had to sacrifice everything for his dreams—that he could never have love and success. Show him that he’s missing out by not trying.”

Slowly, realization dawns on me. Yeah, I should show him what he’s missing. He thinks he can’t change, that we’re not compatible, that Knight and Port is more important than the bond we share? Well, fuck him and fuck that. If there’s anything I’m certain of, it’s that Reid made a huge mistake breaking up with me, and after this little pep talk from Harper, there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to realize that.

“So I need to torture him, basically. Be a boss lady. Graduate, do my job, date someone, show him just how great I am, and make him weep himself to sleep.”

Rogan laughs. “Please, please fucking make him weep. He needs nothing more than a good dose of reality.”

“You know what? You’re right.” I glance down at myself. “I’m not this girl, the one who shows up to meetings looking like a complete disaster. I’m not the girl who gets hung up on a guy. I’m not the girl who forgets about her dreams or why she’s pursuing them. Damn it, I’m better than this.” I reach up, pull my ponytail holder out of my hair, and fling it across the room as if I’m making a grand statement, declaring a new day. “Listen up, you two. From this point on, you’re going to see the old Eve back in action. Hold on to your loins, people, because I’m coming in hot!” Feeling like myself for the first time in a week, I stride out of the office and toward the manor’s front doors.

“Might want to take a shower first!” Harper calls out after me. “Because your hair hasn’t moved since you took it out of that ponytail.”

“Well aware, Harper, well aware.”

I shut the front doors and race off toward Main Street with one thing on my mind: getting my life back in order.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE





REID


Rogan: And the dumb ass award goes to **Drum roll**

Griffin: [Michael Scott Drum Roll GIF]

Jen: Oh I’m positively excited to find out.

Brig: **Crosses fingers** please don’t let it be me, please don’t let it be me.

Rogan: Not this time, bro. It goes to your older sibling, Reid.

Brig: That’s a relief.

Jen: What did he do?

Griffin: Has to be really dumb for Rogan to be talking about it.

Rogan: He broke up with Eve.

Jen: What?!?!

Griffin: Uhh . . . why?

Brig: My heart just plummeted. **Whispers** The curse.

Rogan: Heard from Eve, just waiting for Reid to chime in.

Griffin: Care to share, bro?

Jen: Curious minds want to know why you’re an idiot.

Brig: My heart can’t take this rollercoaster of emotions.

Rogan: Reid . . .

I toss my phone to the other side of my living room couch. The last thing I want to fucking do right now is talk to them—not that I can anyway because they all seem to have a connection to Eve. And anything I say about the breakup will most likely get back to her. I can’t have that. Not when I’m barely hanging on by a thread.

It’s taken every ounce of energy left in my body to not drive up to the Inn and just stare at her from the bar.

Working with her, oh yeah, a real fucking treat—note the sarcasm. Seeing her, acting like everything is cool . . . it’s fucking killing me. A slow, torturous death.

But after just a week, I have to admit that we’ve all been working well together. Eric and I have been pairing flavors, figuring out a menu. Construction is in full force, and we really couldn’t ask for more.

Well, I could.

There’s a knock at my door, and before I can say, “Come in,” it opens. I don’t bother to look up, knowing full well it’s Eric, come to do some taste testing.

“You look like shit,” he says in greeting, taking a seat across from me at the table where I have everything set up.

“Yeah, well, when you force me to break up with your sister, this is what happens.” Even I can hear the bitterness in my voice.

“Don’t do that, Reid. If roles were reversed, you would have asked me to do the same exact thing.”

“Or you’re just trying to be a dick because I was a dick to you years ago.”

Eric sits back in his chair, slaps his notepad on the table, and crosses his arms over his chest. “So this is how it’s going to be? You’re not going to be able to be a mature adult about this? I didn’t ask you to break up with her because I was trying to be a dick. I asked you to break up with her because she’s a business partner. You and I both lost everything we ever wanted because I mixed business with pleasure, and it clouded my judgment. Even back then, you warned me against dating a coworker. I’m just installing the same guidelines here so that this time we can succeed.”