Forever Blake (Once Upon a Player Book 3) by Elena Matthews (free books to read .TXT) 📗

reason why I have to move my butt off this sofa.

“I’m here to slap some sense into you.”

I glare at Jace. “What have I ever done to you?”

He just shrugs, offering a small smile.

Kaelyn walks over to me, and she pulls me under her scrutiny. “Shit, you look awful, but at least you can’t tell you have a broken nose anymore.”

“Again, why are you here?” I reach over for my scotch, but Kaelyn swipes it from my grip before I can even place the bottle to my lips.

“Because I’ve been where you are, dude. Literally living on a sofa, watching reruns of Grey’s Anatomy. You might think the life of a hobo is perfect, but it isn’t healthy. Plus”—she sniffs in my vicinity, grimacing—“you stink. You need to take a shower.”

“For your information, I’ve been watching Suits. Now, you need to leave.”

“Not happening, buddy. Now, get your ass off this sofa and take a shower.” She grabs me by the arm, forcing me to stand.

Not in the mood to fight with her, I do as I was told. She’s probably right; in retrospect, I can’t remember the last time I actually had a shower.

“Fine, if I shower, will your nagging ass leave?”

“Not a chance. Showering is step one. Now, go.” She literally pushes me in the direction of my bedroom.

I chance a glance at my brother. “You’re just going to let her do this?”

“It was my idea.” He grins.

“I hate you.” Those are my parting words for him as I reluctantly head toward the bathroom to shower.

I take a shower, but I forgo shaving the slowly forming beard. Once I exit the shower and I change into a fresh pair of shorts and a T-shirt, I feel a little better.

When I return to the living room twenty minutes later, I frown as a strange aroma fills my nostrils.

“What’s that smell?” I ask Kaelyn and Jace, who are in the kitchen.

“That, dear brother, would be a mixture of fresh air due to the open windows letting in the summer scents of Dallas and lasagna that’s baking in the oven.”

At the mention of lasagna, my stomach rumbles, and Jace’s eyes drift to my belly with a chuckle. “You hungry?”

“I guess so.” I look to my sister. “One question, though. You didn’t make it, did you?”

Kaelyn is the worst cook. She can’t even boil water without burning it.

She shakes her head, laughing. “You’re a cheeky fucker. But no, I didn’t cook it, mom did.”

“Good, I could do without having the runs.”

Glaring at me, Kaelyn grabs hold of a glass of water and rounds the breakfast bar toward me. “Here, dickhead.” She practically shoves the glass in my chest. “I’m guessing you haven’t been hydrating yourself what with all the empty scotch bottles I found in your trash. So, drink.”

I must admit, I am feeling extremely dehydrated, so I gratefully grab the glass and take a couple of long sips. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I hope you don’t mind, but Jace told me about everything. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I gruffly respond before making my way to the couch and flopping myself onto it.

“You might not want to, but you were fired. You kind of need a job to, you know, live,” Kaelyn says, following me and sitting beside me.

Jace joins us in the living room, sitting in the armchair. “She’s right; you need to figure shit out.”

I let out a disgruntled moan, sipping down more water. “Honestly, I have no idea. I was just going to live like a hermit for the rest of my life.”

“That’s usually the way when you have a broken heart, but trust me, it gets better.” Jace’s words surprise and confuse me. Jace has never had a broken heart…

Oh shit. I almost forgot about the whole Kimberley thing.

“He’s right,” Kaelyn says. “It’s part of the process. It sucks, but I think you have to experience it before it can get better.”

“A week ago, I had the dream job and the dream girl…and now, I have neither.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t help with the girl front, but I can certainly help with the job front.”

“How do you figure?”

“The corporate law firm Chase uses is looking for a junior partner, and, well, Chase might have mentioned your name.”

“He did?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s the firm?”

“It’s Richmond-Sussman.”

“Shit, really? The majority of their clientele is famous.”

“Yeah, they’re really impressive, and they want to meet with you.”

Though my heart is still barely holding on by a thread, this gets my spirits up. “You’re kidding? That’s amazing.”

“But there is one catch.”

“What’s that?”

“You need to make sure you’ve sobered up by tomorrow morning. You also need to shave this awful monstrosity off your face.” Kaelyn scratches at my scruff under my chin, chuckling.

That gets a laugh out of me as I smack her hand away.

“What, you don’t like the caveman look?” I joke. I could barely glance at myself in the mirror because I knew how hideous my appearance was.

“No, you really do look like a hobo.”

I smile, and it literally makes my jaw ache since it’s the first time I’ve cracked a smile in over a week. “Come here.” I open my arms out to her, and Kaelyn accepts my offer for a hug by wrapping herself around me. “Thank you,” I say into her hair while looking at Jace, gratitude pouring from me.

“It’s what sisters are for,” she replies as she pulls away. “Now, how about some dinner?”

I nod, the emptiness starting to burn a hole in my stomach. “That sounds great.”

The next morning, I walk out of Richmond-Sussman with a huge smile on my face and a skip in my step. The interview went perfectly, and they offered me the job of junior partner on the spot. Apparently, I’ve developed quite the reputation in the law community—partly for my badass attitude, but mostly for my billables—and they’ve wanted me on board for a while. They just didn’t know how to poach me since I worked at one of the