Wright with Benefits (Wright Series #8) - K.A. Linde Page 0,50

just thought he was Ashleigh’s brother. I didn’t know anything else.”

“He is Ashleigh’s brother,” Sutton said. “Chase and Annie grew up together. They’ve been friends, I don’t know, longer than us.”

“Friends,” Julian said dubiously.

Sutton looked away but not before I saw the wince on her face.

“Sutton,” I said softly.

She shrugged. “Look, I don’t think I should be the one talking to you about this.”

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Nothing.”

Ashleigh sauntered back in with some clear beverage and looked between the three of us. “What are y’all standing around for?”

“We’re discussing your brother,” Julian said. He pulled her closer.

I still couldn’t figure out what he saw in her, but Julian liked to be charmed as much as he charmed others.

“What about him?”

“His history with Annie.”

Ashleigh sighed in that dreamy sort of way as she looked up and clutched her hands around her drink and brought it to her chest. She looked like a Disney character. “They’re destiny.”

I squeezed the beer I was holding and looked at her incredulously. “What does that mean?”

“Ashleigh,” Sutton warned.

“Well, they’re going to get married,” she said as if it were obvious. “They have a pact that if they’re not married to someone else by the time they’re thirty then they’ll get married. Now, he’s moving home. They’re fated.”

I blinked. Was she serious? This was the sort of thing that people talked about in movies, but it wasn’t reality. People didn’t actually make those promises. Who wanted to marry someone they’d known at eighteen anyway? You’d both change beyond comprehension.

“It’s not like that,” Sutton said quickly. But her eyes said it was like that. “They’re just friends.”

Ashleigh rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. “Whatever, Sutton. You just don’t believe in true love.” Then she stepped around her and walked off.

Sutton staggered back a step at the comment. She looked like a wounded bird. She closed her eyes briefly around the pain of what Ashleigh had said. I actually stepped forward to catch her in case she fainted.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Sutton clenched her jaw and opened her eyes. “Fine. And I do believe in true love. In fact, I believe that if you’re lucky, it can happen more than once,” she said defensively as her eyes flitted to David across the room. “I wouldn’t listen to Ashleigh’s ramblings. Annie and Chase dated. They broke up. They made this silly pact because he was moving across the country and likely never coming home. It’s nothing more than that.”

Then she nodded at us both and returned to David’s side. He pulled her in close and kissed the top of her head. Ashleigh’s comment had been callous. I disliked her even more for it.

“Seriously, I didn’t mean—” Julian began.

I interrupted him and waved it away, “Let’s forget it. You didn’t know who he was to Annie.” I glared at the door. “Nor did I, apparently. But there’s nothing I can do about it until she gets back.”

“You sure you don’t want to go after her?”

“Positive,” I told him.

I clapped a hand on his shoulder and directed him to the living room.

A Super Bowl party game had been set up. Everyone dropped in twenty dollars to pick three tickets. Every twenty dollars got you more tickets. Each ticket had a phrase on it, such as, This ticket wins if the national anthem is longer than two minutes. Then a raffle would be held at the end of the game for all the winning tickets, and the names drawn would win some of the pot money.

I blindly dropped down two hundred dollars for tickets. I’d been warned about the game and planned to buy enough for both Annie and me to play. But right now, I needed the distraction of sorting through the tickets, so I wouldn’t think about her absence.

I won the national anthem ticket and dropped it into the collection bin that Jensen held out. He stood next to me as the game got geared up.

“Who are you rooting for?” I asked absentmindedly.

Jensen didn’t answer. He just gave me a look. “You know, I always admired your work ethic and your complete hold on control at the office, even when things didn’t go your way. But I don’t know how you’re standing here right now.”

I met his gaze. My cousin and the only person who had ever felt like an older brother to me. “You’re right.”

I passed him my beer and left.

Annie still wasn’t back. It had been long enough. She wasn’t going to like me