Mr. Swoony (The Nest #3)

Chapter 49

Forty-Nine

Conor

“You’re an idiot,” Rowan says. “Why would you ever listen to him?”

I put my head in my hands and groan.

Rowan picks up his phone and dials Tweetie. “Get your ass down here. You fucked it all up for Conor.” He hangs up before Tweetie can say anything.

“I wanted to protect her.”

Rowan shakes his head. “How mad is she?”

I stare at the Monopoly board game on the coffee table. “Is this the shit you do with my sister? You play Monopoly?”

Tweetie knocks on the door, and Rowan stands, patting me on the shoulder. “I know you’re in the ‘sex all the time where she brushes up against you, and your dick goes hard’ stage, but that does end. You’ll be playing Monopoly by next year.”

“I don’t think we’ll ever be playing Monopoly.” I lean back in the chair and slip off my shoes, crossing my ankles.

Tweetie walks in, looks at me, and lowers his head. “I take it some shit went down and now you’re my wingman again?”

“God, I hope not. I’m praying this is just a fight, and she’s going to forgive me.”

He sits on the couch and picks up the dice. “And she’s going to forgive you up here?”

Rowan swipes the dice out of his hand. “It’s Kyleigh’s turn.”

Tweetie looks around. “Do you see Kyleigh anywhere?”

“If Conor could handle his shit, I’d have convinced her to buy Boardwalk by now.”

Tweetie stares at the game, then at Rowan. “Tell me this is some kinky version of Monopoly.”

I shake my head. “Apparently after a year of couplehood, this is what you do instead of having sex.”

“Another reason why I’m not in a relationship. I always sucked at Monopoly.” Tweetie taps his finger on the armchair. “I guess I’m here to say I’m sorry, but why else am I here?”

“We’re here to talk to Conor. The girls are downstairs. Well, Kyleigh is, and Jade and Henry are on their way.” Rowan pushes the coffee table toward the wall as if Tweetie can’t be trusted.

“Did someone call a Code Red? I don’t get the urgency. You’re in a fight. Since when do we have to assemble for one of you guys having a fight?” Tweetie reaches for the television remote, but Rowan snatches that away too.

“Let me guess, you play Monopoly while watching one of her reality TV shows? Let me spoil it for you, they’re in love and then the cameras turn off, and they break up,” Tweetie says.

Rowan rolls his eyes. “I like reality TV, thank you.”

“I’m sure you like Monopoly too.” Tweetie raises his eyebrows at me.

Another knock sounds on the door. It has to be Henry, which means Jade is at my place downstairs. Rowan answers the door, and Henry walks in while Rowan screams something to Kyleigh below.

“Why would you ever listen to Tweetie?” Henry smacks the back of Tweetie’s head when he passes and sits in the chair next to me. “Monopoly?”

“According to Rowan, you play Monopoly when you get bored with sex,” I say. “You probably only have a couple months left before you’ll be having game nights.”

“That’s not what I said, jackass.” Rowan comes over with four beers, handing one to each of us. “Where’s Bodhi?”

“He’s at Reed and Victoria’s.”

“So, who won your Monopoly game?” Tweetie asks, and the three of us laugh.

Rowan takes a long pull of his beer. “I hate you assholes.”

“I’m still confused as to why we’re all here,” Tweetie says.

“To talk to Conor and figure out a way to get Eloise to forgive him.” Henry opens his beer and downs a swig.

I give Tweetie a quick rundown of everything that happened.

“I told Jade this could be done over FaceTime,” Henry says. “I guess since we’re a little short of a year, we haven’t hit the Monopoly stage yet, and I had other plans tonight.”

“I’m not sure Eloise is going to forgive me. She thinks I don’t think she can handle things. That I’m trying to take charge of her life. I just didn’t want her to have to deal with my problem.”

Henry pats me on the back. “Like I told you, it’s both of your problem.”

“Yeah, I see that now,” I grumble.

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Tweetie says, and we all stare at him.

“Apparently not for you, asshole,” Rowan says, clearly still upset about the Monopoly jokes.

“Just because I haven’t acted doesn’t mean I don’t know what went wrong.” Tweetie sits up, putting his beer at his feet and resting his forearms on his knees. “I know you probably think I can’t offer any good advice because you guys have never seen me in a relationship, but I’m gonna tell you something, Pinkie. If you want her, you shouldn’t be up here wallowing. You should be on your knees, begging and pleading for her to give you a second chance.”

“She said she wants space.”

“‘She said she wants space.’” He mimics me, and I scrunch my eyebrows, not appreciating him mocking me. “Fuck, man, how quick did you get your ass up here after she said she needed space?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, like five minutes.”

He blows out a breath and looks at each of us. “I know you shitheads want to know what happened between Tedi and me, but it doesn’t matter, our time has passed. Regardless, I still have one huge regret from the end of that relationship.”

We all share a look since we’ve all been waiting for any information about the breakup that seems to have broken Tweetie.

“I didn’t fight. I sat back and convinced myself that she needed space. That things would turn out okay. That was the wrong fucking decision. So if you really have this instant connection like you keep bragging to everyone about, you should be on your knees, fighting to keep it alive.”

Rowan raises his eyebrows, and Henry nods.

“There you all go.” Tweetie takes a pull from his beer and points at each one of us. “Anyone else have a problem? Psychologist Tweetie is in.”

We all shake our heads and chuckle. Henry flicks his beer bottle cap at Tweetie, and he catches it.

“Why are you still here?” Tweetie asks me. “Go fix it because your personal problems cannot ruin our season.”

I stand and hand Henry my beer, then pat Tweetie on the back. “Thanks, man.”

He shrugs his shoulder to get my hand off him. “Just don’t let me find you playing Monopoly with her in a few months.”

“Fuck you all,” Rowan says.

I rush to the door, and when I swing it open, I find Jade and Kyleigh there. They’re each carrying a plate with cake.

“I’d knee you in the nuts if you weren’t my brother, and I didn’t want to be an aunt one day.”

“And I won’t do it because I want Kyleigh to be an aunt but do something like that again, and I can’t make any promises,” Jade says.

I ignore their threats. “Why are you eating my cake?”

“ Your cake?” Kyleigh laughs and walks in. “This isn’t your cake anymore.”

Jade follows my sister inside and stops at my side. “She’s hurt, Conor. Fix it.”

“I will.”

She nods, and I walk out to the stairs, jog down, and press the code to unlock my condo, but when I open the door, it’s dark inside except for the light under her bedroom door.

Here goes nothing.