The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(81)

“Liv, you don’t have to do that.”

Her sister ignored her and disappeared into the house. Thea followed her to the basement. Liv opened her dresser and began yanking out clothes.

“I wish you’d stay,” Thea said, coming up behind her.

Liv shoved a stack of T-shirts in a duffel bag.

“Where’s your husband?”

“Upstairs. He wants you to stay too.”

Liv wadded up a sweater and shoved it in her duffel bag. “I take it he’s out of the guest room?”

“Liv, can you stop that for a minute?”

“I have to work this afternoon, so no.”

“Yes, he’s out of the guest room. Which means you are more than welcome to move back in there for as long as you want.”

Liv zipped the bag and stood up. “You guys need some time together without me getting in the way.”

“You’re not in the way. The girls want you here. I want you here.”

“Look,” Liv said, facing her for the first time. “I know how this works, okay? You and Gavin are this bright, shiny thing again. The OTP. I’ll just be in the way.”

“Is that what this is about? You’re worried I won’t have time for you if Gavin and I are back together?”

Liv snorted, the sound more sad than sarcastic. “Don’t worry. I’d never make you choose. I’ve never come out on the winning end of that choice in my life.”

The big sister in her wanted to drag Liv into a protective hug against the ugly pain revealed in that single sentence. But they weren’t children anymore. “This isn’t the same thing. I’m not our parents, and I’m not rejecting you by taking Gavin back.”

Liv rolled her eyes, a classic Liv deflection move that she’d been pulling since childhood. “God, please. A few days of good sex, and she’s a therapist.”

Thea had to breathe in and out several times not to react. Instead, she tried another tactic. “So where are you going? Back to the farmhouse?” Before Liv moved in, she’d lived in a garage apartment on a co-op farm outside the city.

Liv hoisted the strap of her duffel bag over her shoulder. “Don’t know yet. I’m hanging out at Alexis’s place for now.”

“I still have work to do on the mural, so I’m sure I’ll see you at the café,” Thea tried.

Liv lugged her things toward the stairs but stopped at the bottom. “Thea, I take no joy in what I’m about to say. I hope you know that.”

Oh, boy. Thea crossed her arms.

“Men who like to win will do whatever they have to to get what they want.”

Thea let out a frustrated noise and shook her head. “Gavin has a lot of faults, but this Machiavellian picture you paint of him isn’t true.”

“Then go look at what he’s hiding in the guest room closet.”

A twinge of alarm raced through her. That was an oddly specific thing to say. “What are you talking about?”

Liv stormed up the stairs. Thea followed, anger and alarm fueling every step. “Liv, you can’t just say something like that and leave.”

Liv’s duffel thumped, thumped, thumped up the stairs as she dragged it behind her. “Liv!” Thea snapped.

Her sister ignored her.

Gavin appeared at the top of the stairs. “Everything okay?”

Liv told him to move, and he did.

The wheels of Liv’s duffel bag were loud against the hardwood floor and caught the attention of the girls. Amelia ran over to her but stopped with a skid. “Where are you going?”

Liv dropped her duffel, crouched down, and opened her arms to both girls. She kept her voice light and funny, and Thea knew she was doing it for their benefit. “I am going on an adventure!” she said. “I’m off to ride elephants and search for unicorns and—”

“And rhinos!” Amelia giggled.

“And wild hedgehogs,” Liv said. But then her voice faded.

Thea watched as Liv kissed each cheek and stood. “Actually, girls, I’m just going to live somewhere else. Because now that Daddy’s baseball is all done for a while, you guys don’t need me anymore.”

Ava hugged her legs. “No! We need you, Aunt Livvie.”

Gavin approached. “Liv, you don’t have to go.”

He picked up her duffel bag. Liv yanked it away.

“Let her go, Gavin,” Thea said softly. Once her sister had made up her mind, there was no changing it.

Liv grabbed her things and walked out the door without so much as a wave goodbye.

It’s not like she was going anywhere. She worked in Nashville, would still live in Nashville. But Thea felt her departure like the snap of a tether.

And she heard her words like a song stuck on repeat in her head.

“Gavin?” she asked.

He looked down, the tone of her voice bringing a pinch to his brow. “What?”

“What’s in the guest room closet?”





Courting the Countess





Say the words, Benedict. Tell me what happened.”

“She trapped him.”

Irena’s bottom lip wavered before she caught it with her teeth. “Well that explains a lot, doesn’t it?”