Chapter 58

Willia's POV

"Dude, you're playing extremely shitty today," Maddox exclaimed.

I groaned. I wasn't in the mood for our Sunday tennis match. I should have canceled this morning.

"What's wrong?" Maddox asked as we approached the center of the court. Nick and Leo had shit-eating grins. Cade couldn’t make it today.

"We’re winning," Nick said lazily. He narrowed his eyes.

Leo’s grin faded. “Did something happen?” he asked. "’ F es s up. What's wrong?"

"How didn't we pick up on the fact that he looks like he lost his cat or something?" Nick asked.

"You were too busy gloating," Maddox said in a serious tone.

"I'm not mad at any of you," I said. "Sarah and I aren't seeing eye to eye on a few things."

"Did you fight?" Maddox asked.

"No. At least, I don’t think we did."

"Dude, how can you be so clueless? You don't even know if you fought with your woman or not?" Leo asked.

Nick shook his head. “Let's play another set and see if you can get rid of some of that excess energy."

"You just want to win," Maddox exclaimed. He and Nick exchanged a glance.

Leo cocked a brow, looking at me and shrugging. Good to know I wasn't the only one oblivious to whatever Maddox and Nick were trying to communicate to each other.

Maddox got out his phone from the bag he’d deposited at the edge of the tennis court, typing quickly before coming back. "William, focus. We need three good shots and we’re through."

To Nick and Leo's dismay, Maddox and I ended up winning. There was a thing to be said about razor focus. It has always been one of my best qualities. I could push everything to the back of my mind and concentrate on one thing.

The problem was that once I stopped focusing, all the issues came slamming back into me. Did Sarah fight? Leo was right. How the fuck could I be so clueless?

"Let's grab drinks," Maddox said. "To celebrate our victory."

Nick and Leo grumbled under their breaths. Usually, I'd play along with Maddox and rub it in their faces. But today I wasn't in the mood. We headed straight to the bar. When I first started coming here, this area was more like a healthy juice bar, but lately, it has expanded to become more of a bona fide bar. It even sold alcoholic drinks.

A lot of people came just to be seen around here and to make the right contacts, so it was smart to cater to that clientele. To my astonishment, Jake, Natalie, Cade, Meredith, and Gabe were there.

I was even more shocked to see Colton sitting two seats away from Gabe. To my knowledge, he’d never stepped foot inside here.

"What's going on?" I asked as I climbed into the chair next to Colton.

Jake replied, "Maddox messaged that you're in a shit mood because you have woman problems."

"And Natalie and I tagged along, thinking you might do with a feWilliam perspective too," Meredith said.

"Yeah, he probably does need your input," Gabe agreed.

“How did you even get here so fast?” I challenged myself.

“We were all out together for a drink,” Jake replied.

I looked straight at Colton. "How did they blackmail you to come here?"

Colton groaned. "What, I can't show up because my younger brother needs me? I know I've neglected the family for the past few years, so now I'm making up for that."

I appreciated that he’d even put aside his not-so-friendly feelings toward our half-brother on my behalf.

"I didn't realize I needed so much advice," I said, "but apparently, you all think differently."

"Look at his face," Cade said. "He's starting to panic."

"We should have warned him we were coming," Gabe added unhelpfully.

"So, what happened, exactly?" Natalie asked.

"Wait, do you even want to share it with everyone? Because otherwise, we're good just getting hammered with you," Gabe said.

Nick cleared his throat. "No, that's not going to happen here. We can have a few drinks, but no one gets drunk."

"It was a figure of speech, Nick. Relax," Gabe said. "We wouldn't make you look bad."

It hadn't crossed my mind to tell them everything, but now that they were here, that didn't sound like a bad idea.

"So, you all know that Sarah and I have gotten closer lately. Very close."

"Damnit, man, that's going to enable Grandmother like nothing before," Gabe said, then shook himself. "Sorry, this is about you. You go on."

"Thank you for giving me permission," I said sarcastically.

"Anyway, she got a job offer in London, and she wants to turn it down because she doesn't want to be away from me and Ben." I swallowed hard.

"But that's a good thing, right?" Natalie asked. "I mean, she cares about the two of you a lot."

"Yeah, but we didn't meet that long ago, and when we did, she’d just gotten divorced and was desperate for a fresh start. This would be a fresh start. I even told her that I’d be okay with doing long distance for a while. I don’t want her to rush into this and then change her mind.”

"Dude, that's a grim view of life," Colton said.

“That’s a surprising comeback... from you.”

Meredith bit her lip. "I mean, there's always a risk, of course."

Cade turned to her. "You're not helping."

"I'm giving my honest opinion."

"And I appreciate it," I said. "I can take it."

Gabe narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "No, I've got nothing, man. Sorry. I've legitimately never been serious enough about a woman to consider shit like this."

“There is more,” I said.

Half the group groaned. The other half seemed to be holding their breaths.

“Naomi came by this morning. She hinted at getting back together. Mostly because it’s the only way for her to be financially secure.”

Colton snorted. “She’s unbelievable.”

“I told her to never bring that up again. But Sarah thinks—”

“Holy shit, you didn't tell Sarah,” Gabe exclaimed.