He closed his eyes to make sure he didn’t barf. His stomach felt like a thousand mongooses were running around in it.
“Yeah, I found him. You were right. Well, he’s lying on Micah’s couch trying not to barf up the whiskey he drank.”
“I am not.” He cracked an eye open and saw Evan talking on the phone. “Who are you talking to?”
“Your sister.”
He frowned. “No women.”
Evan’s lips twitched. “No problem. I’ll take care of him.”
“I’m not in the mood to deal with my sister.”
“You and me both, but I held her off. I explained this is man stuff.”
“Fucking A.” He closed his eyes again. “Women aren’t worth the problems they cause.”
“Yeah, they are. It’s a lot of shit, but they are definitely worth it.”
He snorted and then had to fight another wave of nausea. “Fuck.”
“You have such a way with words,” Micah said.
He wanted to laugh, needed it, but it wouldn’t come. Pain and anger still ebbed too close the surface. He wanted to hurt something, someone. He should have picked a fight so he didn’t have to deal with it.
“Do you know what she did? Got the call, didn’t call me. Dammit. Another woman, holding things back.”
Comprehension and then pity moved over both Micah and Evan’s faces. Shit. He didn’t need this. But when he tried to pull himself off the couch, the room started spinning.
He fell back again.
“Okay, so she made a mistake. I have a feeling you’ve made more than one and she hasn’t called it quits. Of course, Jocelyn isn’t stupid enough to call off a relationship because of small mistakes,” Evan said.
He closed his eyes. “Didn’t say she was. She just doesn’t want a serious relationship.”
“Huh.” Evan said. “Really. That’s odd because Chris thought you two were getting kind of serious.”
He cracked one eye open and realized that Micah had left them alone. Evan was now sitting in the chair next to the couch.
“Well, he was wrong.”
“Let me ask you a question.”
“Can I stop you?” he asked.
“Did you tell her about Keisha?” Evan asked quietly
He didn’t think he needed to answer that. He slammed his eyelids shut again.
Evan whistled and it pierced his head. “Oh, boy, you messed up.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“You like to throw around the F word when you drink, don’t ya?” Evan said, amusement threading his voice.
He gave his brother-in-law the finger, which just made Evan laugh.
“Let me put it to you this way, son. You accused her of not telling you something important, right?”
“Which she did not share with me, so I’m right. She found out about Greg’s sentencing and didn’t tell me. I had to find out from Chris.”
“Okay. But she told you other things.”
He frowned. “Yeah.”
“Things she hasn’t probably told anyone but her therapist. And did you open up and tell her about your mess? Of course you didn’t. You’re a man. As your sister likes to tell me, we were put on earth to mess things up. So what do you do now?”
An ache stabbed his heart. “It’s over.”
Evan sighed. “Come on. I’ll take you to her. You can grovel.”
He looked at his brother-in-law. “I don’t wanna to go.”
“Well, you have no choice. I love you both and you either fight it out, or break up. I do not want to deal with your sister if I don’t try.”
“You’re a traitor to your sex.” When that got no response, he said, “Puss.”
“Yeah, you and me both. Come on.”
Evan pulled him off the couch and then turned toward a back door to the office. Kai’s eyes widened as they went past a big king-sized bed in a very elaborate bedroom, then out another door into the Hawaiian night.
“Damn, I never knew that was back there.”
Evan shook his head and helped Kai down the stairs. “Son, I have a feeling there are a lot of things you don’t know about. And knowing Jocelyn the way I do, you’re about to learn a thing or two.”
Jocelyn dragged herself into the kitchen and started a kettle to brew some tea. She had been a mess since she’d arrived home. She didn’t like to admit that she’d messed up, but she had, a little bit. But she knew there was part of her that understood why she had done it. Even before talking to Dr. Sawyer, she had known that Kai had held things back from her. Hadn’t she thought just that earlier that day?
With a sigh, she opened the cupboard but paused when she heard a car door. It was too close to be a neighbor’s car.