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I shook my head instantly. “Rigby didn’t see her back in Tucson, man. When I walked in, she was in the middle of a sleep-deprived breakdown. She needs help. Needs us. She shouldn’t have to do it by herself.”
River was nodding, and I had a feeling the sly bastard had just talked me into a corner. “So we agree then. We let her explore where she wants to go with us. If she's happy, and wants to, I don’t know, pursue her other needs with one of us, you’re on board. Or are you happy with her going on dates and finding some other fucker who’ll have their hands all over her body? Someone Huey will call Daddy?”
I scoffed. “Aw, do you want Nova to call you Daddy too?”
He gave me a shove. “I wouldn’t say no.” He let out a breath that whistled between his teeth. “She is beautiful.”
Fuck yeah, she was. A kind of effortless beauty. Even in the middle of the night, her hair crazy and unwashed, eyes puffy from crying and lack of sleep, she’d been beautiful. Not in the traditional sense, but I was still a little awestruck by her. She was one of those people whose beauty on the outside was reflected on the inside. Like Rigby.
Not like me or River, though. Our exteriors hid a defective core.
“I’m not going to try and gaslight her into liking one of us, River. You know how I feel about that shit.” PTSD for the win. “If she wants to date, we should let her. We don’t own her. She’s young and up until three weeks ago, carefree. If she finds a guy who’s a fucking douche, we’ll figure it out then. I’m not going to force her into anything.”
River scowled at me, and I knew the expression sometimes scared the shit out of his hockey opponents, but I’d been on the receiving end of the scowl for a lot of years now. It had lost its effect. “I’m not suggesting that, asshole. Look. Justlookat them.”
I did. Nova was laughing at Rigby as he gently moved Huey through the water on one of those little infant rings. Huey was loving it, his hands splashing in the water. And every now and then, when Rigby wasn’t watching, she looked at him with hunger in her eyes.
Okay, so we probably wouldn’t be forcing her. Problem was, I’d seen River look at her with that exact same hunger earlier. “Okay. And when shit goes wrong? What, we kick her and Huey out? Or do we kick out Rigby?”
He shook his head. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You know Rigby. He’s not going to do anything to hurt her.”
“But will she hurt him?” I loved that fucking kid. I wasn’t going to set him up for heartache.
“It was his idea, dickhead. He’s not doing anything he doesn’t want to do.”
I sighed. This had so much potential to blow the fuck up in our faces. “What if she wants you too?” He scoffed, and I punched him in the arm. “I mean it, man. You don’t see the way she checks out your ass when you walk away. It’s like your hockey ass is a magnet and her eyeballs are pure metal.”
“You’re a dick,” he grumbled, walking away, but I saw how he watched her. He peeled off his shirt, and Nova’s eyes immediately made their way to him. Fucking athletes. Going out with Rigby and River to a club had always been a lesson in humility.
Rigby commanded a room, but River… He could walk in and everyone would turn to look. He didn’t like being the center of attention, but always was anyway. He just had that brooding presence, on top of the looks, that made women swoon.
For a long time, I’d been happy getting their cast-offs, because I never wanted anything serious. Still didn’t. But if I did, I’d want someone who looked at me the way Nova was looking at River right now.
My eyes slipped to Rigby, who was watching Nova gape with a smug, amused expression, not a hint of jealousy. I didn’t understand it. People were fucking hard.
I just needed to get laid.
As if he felt my eyes on him, Rigby turned in my direction. “Why don’t you get in the pool too, Dev?”
“Can’t,” I yelled back. I pointed the tongs at the nearly done steaks.
“Can’t or won’t?” he called back, and I had a feeling he wasn’t talking about the pool.
I met his eyes. “What’s the difference? The result is the same.”
Rigby just raised his eyebrows and shook his head. He swam over to where River was standing at the deep end of the pool, leapt up and grabbed him by the back of the calves, pulling him into the water. Nova laughed from the shallow end, where she was sitting on the steps with a still-splashing Huey.
Idyllic. But why did it make my chest hurt so bad?
ChapterTwelve
NOVA
I was only human,okay? I wasn’t particularly special, didn’t have any hard luck stories that made me edgier or more badass than any other woman in the world. Well, at least until now.
Believe me when I saynothingin my life had prepared me for sitting around the table with three half-naked men as we ate steaks that each cost more than my weekly grocery budget, and drank fancy craft beer in the freaking candlelight.
Swimming had tired out Huey quickly, and when I gave him his bottle, he’d nodded off into that deep, floppy baby sleep almost immediately. He’d hardly stirred when I’d changed him into his onesie and put him in his sleep sack.
