Pride and Papercuts (The Austens #5) - Staci Hart Page 0,60

an idiot. What Liam would do when he found out Georgie had spent the night here with my brother. They were literally the only good thing to come out of last night, and even that was tainted by Darcy.

Basically, all I thought about was Liam. He was the wind licking the waves, and I was in a boat with no oars, riding the swells made by his presence.

He made me feel helpless, not only to the vortex of his mercurial behavior, but to my heart. Because try as I might, I couldn’t keep that part of me safe from the tumult. I had no defenses, not when it came to him.

And that made me very, very mad.

When the sun was high enough to change my room from a wash of purples to cheerful golds, I gave up the fight, peeling myself out of bed with coffee as my only motivation. Today’s plan was dinner with our family, and I was glad I had a date with Mom in the greenhouse. Sitting around here thinking about Darcy wasn’t going to help me sort things out. A distraction would give me some distance, which I desperately needed. Mostly because Liam was impossible to escape. He’d infiltrated every corner of my life except my family, and I’m sure he had designs to ruin that for me too.

I heard Jett and Georgie talking for a while, nothing but muffled intonations floating into the living room as I finished my first cup of coffee. When my second was in hand, I sat in the breakfast nook and stared out the window at the fiery treetops of Central Park, the burning auburn of fall. The last bit of color before the gray of winter settled in. Soon, it would be a field of skeletons, a colorless wash of sleeping trees waiting for spring. And I wondered where I’d be when the last leaf fell. Because change was upon me too, though I didn’t know what it was. I could feel the transition, feel myself pushing against the confines of it.

Jett’s bedroom door opened, and out they came, him in sleep pants and Georgie in her dress from last night, heels hanging on her fingers. And my heart ached with happiness at the joy on their faces.

I recognized the rightness of them just as I’d seen it in my brothers and their partners and with my parents. It was rare—that unbreakable click of belonging. The indescribable sense that you’d just seen something monumental in two people’s lives, and neither would be the same.

I smiled and stood, heading for the coffeepot. “Morning. Coffee?”

Georgie’s smile fell, her face softening with longing. “I wish I could. But I have to face the music.” She held up her phone, which I assumed was stacked with angry texts and missed calls from her brother.

Jett didn’t look any happier at the reminder she was heading into the mouth of the beast. “I asked her to stay. Face him at work tomorrow. But she said—”

“He’ll come find me, and this time, we’re not going to get out of it without violence,” Georgie said. “Best to just get it over with.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“Listen. Let him yell. Yell back. And then do whatever I want,” she said.

“You make it sound so easy,” I joked.

“I’m under no illusions, trust me.” She sighed, turning to face Jett, and I might as well have disappeared.

The way they looked at each other made me feel so much, a blossom of pain opened up in my chest. He took her small face in his hands and kissed her, and when the kiss broke, he pulled her into his chest. For a long moment, he held her there with his chin on her crown and his eyes closed. His brow was creased with worry, and I realized he didn’t want to let her go. Not from his arms, not from our apartment. Because even though she’d said she’d do what she wanted, we all knew enough of her brother to know it would never be that simple.

But eventually, Georgie stepped back. Gathered her things. Jett walked her to the door and kissed her goodbye, and this time when my heart ached, it was with sadness.

When the door was closed, he sighed through his nose, eyes to the ground and hand scrubbing his hair. I extended a fresh cup of coffee, which he took, and silently, we sat at the table and stared at the park without seeing