Hardwired (The Hardwired Series 1)(42)

We settled in and ordered.

“Alli says you know Sophia.” I said innocently, interrupting Alli and Heath’s canoodling.

“I do. We’re invested in her agency, actually.” Heath straightened himself as if he were all business now.

“Blake too?”

“Yes, Blake knows her too.”

I looked to Alli, who appeared conveniently distracted by something on the other end of the restaurant.

“Sounds like he more than knows her,” I muttered, sipping my water.

Heath looked to Alli, drumming his fingers on the table nervously. Like Blake, he was always cool and calm, with an added layer of carefree charm that set the two brothers apart. Why did talking about Sophia ruffle him? She must mean something to Blake. It was the only logical explanation, considering he probably already knew more about my relationship with Blake than I wanted him to.

“I think they dated on and off, when he was in town, you know. But they’ve been just friends for years.”

If I didn’t know better, I would have thought someone punched me in the gut. Jealousy pulsed through me as I absorbed his words. He emphasized years, but nothing he could say diluted the devastating fact that they had history.

The question was whether they had a present, or a future. I checked my phone. Still nothing. The rejection implied in his silence tore a hole in my heart, and tears threatened suddenly. Get it together, I told myself.

Heath’s phone went off and his eyes widened a bit, darting to me and back to the phone. “Excuse me, I’ve got to take this,” he said and left us alone at the table.

“Well this is awkward,” I said.

“What?”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you’ve done a complete one-eighty since moving here. First you move in with Heath and don’t bother telling me and now you’re introducing me to Blake’s ex-girlfriends without any warning? You could have given me a heads up, you know.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would come up. Like he said, they’re just friends.”

“That’s a shitty reason for not telling me, and you know it. I realize you’re serious about Heath, but what the hell, Alli? This isn’t you.”

“You know me. I’m the same person I was a few weeks ago. It’s just—things are more complicated than you realize.”

“No doubt, because you don’t tell me anything.”

She sighed and twisted her hair. “I said I was sorry, okay? I admit it. I should have told you about Sophia. If you introduced me to someone Heath had history with, I’d want to know.”

    I relaxed a little, satisfied that I wasn’t completely going off the deep end. Alli shielding me from the truth wasn’t doing me any favors. I was falling hard for Blake, and I needed to know if that was a reckless effort. She had loyalty to Heath now, but protecting him, and Blake, at my expense wasn’t going to work.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN





I slept in the next morning, feeling nearly as drained and confused as I had when my head hit the heavenly thread count pillow. I checked the clock and forced myself up. I assumed Alli had made it to work all right. She and Heath had gone out for drinks after dinner while I headed back to the condo. We’d made plans to go out on the town the following night, but maybe they needed alone time. Restless, I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours but finally fell asleep, never hearing their return. How she kept up like this I would never know.

I made myself at home in the kitchen, brewing coffee and frying up an omelet. I looked up some local yoga studios on my phone and found a class I could walk into just before lunch. As I devoured my breakfast, Heath came from the adjacent bedroom, looking more than tired. The long night had left heavy bags under his eyes, and for the first time, I noticed he actually looked older than Blake, fine lines fanning out from his dark hazel eyes.

He had the same toned chest and intense eyes as Blake, but while I could appreciate his obviously quality looks, I felt no attraction to him. Blake’s appearance had sparked my attraction from the start, but so much more kept that flame alive. Other men had become invisible to me.

Shirtless, he shuffled to the coffee maker, filling an oversized mug to the brim, emptying it to a halfway point before he finally acknowledged me with a nod.

“Morning,” he said, looking into his coffee cup.

“Long night?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his face and sighed.

“How was Alli this morning?”

“Uh, fine. She—” He paused. “She came home earlier than I did.”

Something wasn’t right.

“Is everything all right?” I asked gently, tiptoeing since I was prying into his personal life, though everyone seemed to think that was all right when it came to my personal life.

“Yeah, definitely. You know how it goes.” He shrugged.

A tired and overused smirk that I had started to peg as bullshit marked his face. He was obviously trying to downplay something.

“Do you love her?” I blurted it out, surprising myself even as I said it. It was a bold enough question, let alone one to ask someone in as bad a shape as he was.

His gaze shot to mine, burning with an emotion I couldn’t name, all trace of the bullshit smile gone.