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Jen’s hands are still on my back. Can’t tell if that makes me feel better or worse. Better, because she’s letting me know she’s there? Or worse, because I had sex with her and that’s why she feels comfortable touching me like this?
Worse, because I want her to always touch me this way?
“So everyone knows but me, huh?” Tuck gives me another shove, but I manage to stay put. “Fucking move, Jen.”
“Don’t talk to my wife like that,” I warn.
Jen curls her hands around my hips. “Come on, Tuck, I’m not gonna let you hurt him. Quit being ridiculous and let us talk to you. Here, we can sit in the kitchen?—”
“I’m not staying. Jen, pack your shit. You’re coming home with me.”
“Like hell I am.” My pulse spikes at her indignation. “Don’t you dare talk to me that way. I’m a grown woman. Have I not always made good choices? Have I ever once let you down?”
Tuck glowers, shoulders rising and falling as he struggles to catch his breath. “Abel is not a good choice. Not for you in general, and definitely not for a husband.”
The arrow hits its mark. Never wanted to be anyone’s husband, so I’m not sure why his words hurt so much. But they do.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Jen says. “In the meantime, quit talking shit. I mean it, Tuck.”
Tuck turns his fiery gaze back on me. “Since when doyouwant to be married?”
“Since Jen.” The reply flies off my tongue. Easy-peasy.
My heart thumps. I’m digging a very deep hole here.
Tuck’s jaw tics. “Y’all should have told me. Been transparent from the beginning. This sneaking around stuff is bullshit.”
Pretty sure Tuck would’ve hated twenty-two-year-old me telling him I had a crush on his little sister. Moot point now.
“It happened quickly,” Jen says. Her face is red. “I mean, Abel and I have been friends forever. We already had that foundation. I was... totally single for the first time in a while, and Abel was single, and...”
Tuck’s eyes bulge when they flick to her neck. They flick to me. “He been touchin’ you this whole time?”
“No!” Jen and I say in unison.
I hold up my hands. “I swear on my life, Tuck, I never so much as put a finger on her until?—”
“You married her without asking for my dad’s blessing? He doesn’t know, does he?”
Jen swallows audibly. “Not yet, no.”
“And what about asking formyblessing?” Tuck’s got his hands on my shirt again. “Your best fucking friend in the world? I been good to you, Abel. I’ve been there for you through all your shit. And this is how you repay me?”
Ouch. Another arrow through the heart. I’d wanna beat my ass too.
Only one thing I can say that would explain everything. That would justify me pulling a fast one on Tuck and Joe.
“I care about Jen more than I care about anyone else.” I don’t recognize my voice. Tuck drops my shirt, eyes wild. “That’s my only excuse. I’ve been obsessed with her for as long as I can remember. But I didn’t want to mess up the good thing we all had going. Y’all are my family. My only family. But then?—”
“I made the first move,” Jen says. “I don’t think it’s any secret that I’ve had a crush on Abel since... well, for a long time now. I figured if not now, when?”
My chest twists at the line.Myline. The one she’s apparently taken to heart.
Tuck does that thing again where he laughs like a lunatic. It’s terrifying. “Youmade a move onhim?” He jabs his fingers at us. Laughs some more. Wiping his eyes, he says, “Y’all got me good. All right, Jen, I ain’t gonna ask you again?—”
“I’m not leaving.”
It’s the first and only time I’ve ever heard Jen raise her voice. Even when we were kids, she never yelled. It’s... kind of arousing, if I’m being honest.
