Page 70 of Aiden & Lily

Aiden glanced at his brother beside him. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

Parker lifted one shoulder. “You seem…”

“Happy? Content? At peace?”

His brother smiled, but there was something almost sad about it. “I don’t know how to describe it. Resigned, maybe.”

Aiden stiffened. “What?”

Parker blew out a breath, tucked his hammer into his belt loop, and faced him with his hands on his hips. “How are things going with Mathew?”

Mathew was an issue all on his own. No one had ever accused the man of not being stubborn. If Aiden had to guess, he’d say Mathew was keeping his distance because he didn’t want a fight. If they didn’t fight, then maybe their friendship wasn’t over.

At least, that was how Aiden chose to view it.

He shrugged one shoulder and turned back to his work. “It’s fine.”

“Yeah, right.”

When Aiden didn’t respond, Parker kept going.

“If it’s not Mathew, it’s something else. There’s something bothering you. I don’t care how much you smile. You’re still holding back for some reason.”

His brother had no idea how close he was to the truth. There was one glaring problem Aiden still hadn’t dealt with.

Reese.

The second Reese returned to town, everything would change. Aiden had already decided he would tell Lily before Reese came home. He just hadn’t decided exactly when—or found the courage to do it.

“See? That look right there.” Parker waved a finger in Aiden’s direction. “You’re worried about something. Please tell me you’re not about to sabotage the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

Aiden batted his brother’s hand away. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. Come on, you can talk to me. I thought we’d gotten past the whole enemies thing we had going.”

Blowing out a frustrated breath, Aiden set his hammer aside. “Fine. You want to know what I’m dealing with? Reese.”

“He doesn’t like that you’re dating his ex?” Parker asked. “You can’t exactly blame him.”

No, Aiden wouldn’t blame him. Especially since Aiden had known the truth from the beginning.

“He doesn’t know,” Aiden muttered.

“What?” Parker’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m sorry, but it sounded like you said he doesn’t know.”

Aiden flinched. “He doesn’t. And Lily doesn’t know that Reese and I are friends.”

Parker’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Aiden groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “She thinks it would be messy for someone to date a friend’s ex. Reese and I weren’t even in a good place when he started dating her, so at first, I didn’t know what to do.”

“That might explain the beginning,” Parker said, lowering his voice. “It doesn’t explain why you still haven’t told her.”

Aiden’s jaw tightened.

“Sheesh, Aiden. When this comes out, you’re going to be in hot water. What are you planning to do? When are you going to be honest with her?”

“Honest?” Aiden snapped. “You want to talk about being honest? What about you?”