Read Crazy Love for Free Online Page A

pants were on fire, I turned both barrels on my table companion. “Tell me this… if Trip’s so unredeemable, why come to lunch with us?”
    His near lavender eyes swept me with a frigid detachment. I saw a flicker of something…some twisted mournful…something. “So I could have this conversation with you. I wanted to spare you the trouble that follows Trip around. I guess I’m still my brother’s keeper, whether I want the job or not.”
    I blinked in surprise, but his conflicted behavior made a hell of a lot more sense. He’d come here solely to warn me off. Sam’s handsome, angular features were set in a manner that suggested he took no pleasure in what he was about to say. I braced myself when he glanced around and leaned in closer to me.
    “That hostess…Jen? She hooked up with Trip once. This was shortly after Trip’s wife left him, and he checked himself out of rehab. He called me and said he’d picked up some chick and was going out to this bonfire on Tybee Island and wanted to know if I’d like to come along. So I went. I wanted to be sure he wasn’t going to drink and drive again. Trip spent most of the party off in a back bedroom with Jen. But he got so trashed that he ended up in the E.R., and I had to drive her home. She sobbed the entire time. She even showed up at the hospital the next day to see him. And he doesn’t even remember her.”
    As I processed what he’d told me, my eyes drifted to the view through the windows. I saw Trip across the street smoking. He leaned carelessly on a lamppost, bobbing his head in time to a street musician’s tune. His wide smile as he applauded along with the tourists contradicted Sam’s clinical description of him. I continued to observe Trip thoughtfully as he shook hands with the guitar player and dropped some cash in his open case.
    “People are capable of change, Sam. Maybe he’s finally ready to clean up his act.” This hadn’t exactly been my experience, and I wasn’t sure if I said this to challenge Sam or to make myself feel better.
    He heaved a sigh and tossed his napkin on the table. He glanced at me, then lifted his drink to his lips and muttered “Forgive my lack of optimism. I’d love to be wrong. But I very much doubt that I am.”
    I found myself reexamining Sam as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through the screens. Except for the stubble and denim, he looked like a prep school darling. The epitome of “white collar”. How could he claim to be his brother’s keeper when he’d been gone for months and hadn’t seen him in such a long time? I wondered how much of his animosity toward Trip was about his brother’s past skeletons and how much was just old sibling rivalry bathed in the juice of sour grapes. I was just about to ask why he’d dropped out of law school when Trip reappeared and hastily took his seat.
    “Oysters! Fantastic.” He smiled broadly and scooted his plate in my direction. “You know what they say about oysters-don’t ya, Angel?”
     

 

     
     
    A silent spectator, I brooded over lunch as my brother sprinkled compliments all over Annabelle like unholy water. To my horror, she seemed to drink in his attention like a lost soul gulping down sand at a desert mirage. If anything, she seemed more into him than before our conversation. From the moment I saw Trip kiss her cheek, she was off limits. I vowed to wash my hands of the entire mess, but I had a wriggling feeling that doing so would be easier said than done.
    First impressions are Trip’s specialty. He is a legend when it comes to making people fall in love with him, and if a competition existed for this talent, he’d flawlessly land the dismount. Unfortunately, his charm wasn’t a sustainable resource these days. I hoped for Annabelle’s sake he’d show her his true nature before she invested too much time in him and that his inevitable fuck-up wouldn’t leave permanent scars. Though my dream girl had turned out to be a delusional,