“You’re such a bitch.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You know Max would skewer Nico if he found out.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Which is exactly why nobody except you knows. You can’t breathe a word of it to anyone in one of your drunken stupors, okay?”
“I resent that.” Sloane takes another gulp of her drink. “I handle myself with complete decorum while enjoying a few cocktails with friends.”
“Sure, motor-mouth. Believe what you want, but if you say anything, you know what will happen. Do you really want a bludgeoning on your conscience?”
“You’re exaggerating. Max just wants to make sure his baby sister is protected from the scourge of the earth. He’d never really hurt Nico.”
“I love Max with all my heart, but even I know what he’s capable of doing.”
“I think there’s more to him than meets the eye.” Sloane picks up a pen and doodles across her notebook pages. “I suspect there’s a lot below the surface that nobody knows is there.”
“Really.” I lean forward, grateful for the distraction from my own misery. “And when did you come to this conclusion?”
A light pink blush colors Sloane’s cheeks, and she averts her eyes. “Call it intuition. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Care to explain?”
She shrugs. “Not really.”
“Did something happen between you guys?”
“Look, I didn’t want you to find out this way—”
“Find out what?” My eyes are about to pop out of my skull, they’re open so wide.
“Look, we went out a couple of times before Thanksgiving. And then he pulled away. Just stopped calling.”
“You let it go without asking him about it?”
She snorts. “Please. What do I look like? I’m not scrounging for dates. If he’s not interested, there are plenty of other guys who are.”
I can’t help the smile from lifting my lips. “You are so smitten with my brother.”
“Am not.”
“You are!”
“Aren’t either.”
“Wow, what a pair we are, huh?”
Sloane smirks and holds up her cup. “Here’s to the lovelorn and the jerkoffs who’ve scorned them. May their dicks shrivel up and fall off.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Sad to say that even if Nico was dickless, I’d still want him with every fiber of my being.
Lovelorn and hopeless. What a fantastic combination.