AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was on the tip of my tongue to tease her that she was going to find herself in just as much trouble as Luke was with that kind of talk, but then I worried it would make me appear jealous, so I forced a grin and answered, “You can thank me for that. He thought he was underdressed, but I refused to let him change.”
“Then God bless Lucy,” Chloe cheered, lifting her bottle in salute.
Vaughn glanced over, then, and we shared a brief moment of eye contact before he smiled slightly and returned his attention to Tucker.
“Aw…” Haven cooed next to me, gripping my arm. “He just checked on you. That was so freaking sweet.”
“He likes you,” Chloe sang softly, heckling me on purpose.
“Oh, please…” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“No, seriously,” Haven agreed with Chloe. “The only person who’s ever looked at me the same way Vaughn just looked at you is Wick.”
“Good Lord,” I decided. “I’m going to need more alcohol to deal with you two, aren’t I?”
“Ooh, yes. More alcohol! Let’s take some shots together,” Chloe decided, hooking her arm through both mine and Haven’s. “Because I totally feel like getting drunk tonight. I just learned yesterday that my petition for a restraining order was denied.”
I gasped in outrage. “Are you serious? Why?”
“Oh…” Chloe sighed as she led us toward the kitchen and dropped her empty bottle in a trash basket in the hall as we passed it. “Because there’s never been any threat of physical or psychological abuse.”
“But he keeps contacting you and harassing you,” I argued incredulously.
With a careless shrug, Chloe explained, “They said to give it another week or so, and if he still hasn’t left me alone by then, they’d file the order. But they were right. He’s never threatened me once, so mostly, I just feel like an enormous fool for even telling anyone about it. Hey! Beau!” she called as we entered the kitchen. “Pass that bourbon this way, will you?”
Beau tossed her the bottle, and she yelped in surprise, fumbling to catch it against her chest. My brother laughed over her distress, to which she promptly called him a jerk.
“You’re not a fool,” I insisted, picking up our conversation where we’d left off.
“Far from it,” Haven agreed. “I can’t believe they denied you the request.”
Shrugging it off, Chloe mumbled, “It is what it is, I guess.” And she commandeered us some shot glasses before pouring bourbon into three of them. Then she glanced toward Bentley, who was sitting not too far away on the countertop of the kitchen’s bar with her legs dangling. “Yo, Bent. You want in on this?”
Bentley smiled politely and waved us on. “No thanks. Not tonight.”
“What? Why?” Chloe demanded, lifting her eyebrows in question. “You pregnant again or something?”
Standing next to Bentley, Beau snorted and lovingly slid a hand up his wife’s thigh as he glanced over. “Yeah right. That’s a great big never again.”
As Bentley glanced at him, her face draining of color, her husband patted her leg, claiming, “After what happened last year, you gotta be kidding.”
It was nice to hear him talk about his experience with her miscarriage so openly around the family now that everyone finally knew, but Bentley’s expression was beginning to worry me, so I murmured a harsh, “Beau.”
“We are done having children,” he stated firmly. “Forever. Braiden’s just going to have to get used to being—”
“Beau!”
“What?!” He sent me an irritated glare for interrupting, to which I widened my eyes at him and transferred a telling glance toward his wife.
He looked up at Bentley and froze solid, his fingers tightening reflexivel
y on her knee.
“No,” he finally said, his voice hollow. Then he shook his head insistently as his face drained of color. “Please tell me you’re not.”
“I…” Guilt and worry laced Bentley’s features. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“No,” he repeated, looking terrified. Dropping his hand from her, he backed away slowly and gripped his head. “No, no, no, no, no.”
