Page 43 of Reckless (Adventures in Love 3)
“You did.” I don’t lie—first, he would know if I did; second, he’s like a brother to me and one of the few people I’ve ever trusted in my life. I would never do anything to jeopardize that trust. Not with him and not with Blake.
“You’re spending time with Jade.” He stops to look at me, and I lift my chin in an affirmative. “You wanna talk about it?”
“Nope,” I say, and he smiles.
“Right, just be careful.”
“Why are we being careful?” Blake walks in with Mason right behind him, and they both drop the stuff they brought along with them on the pile of shit Tanner and I brought.
“Mav is spending time with Jade.”
“Cybil’s best friend?” Blake asks, looking at me, and I shake my head. Maybe Jade was right about men gossiping more than women do.
“Yep,” Tanner says.
“She seemed sweet the couple times I met her.” Blake walks over and takes the sledgehammer from Tanner.
“She is. She’s also been through a lot; Cybil and her parents have been worried about her.”
“What happened?” Blake asks.
“She lost her bookstore back in Oregon around the same time her ex screwed her over.”
“Her ex screwed her over?” I ask, and Tanner’s gaze comes to me.
“Yeah, he borrowed some money to start up a business and didn’t pay it back even after she explained that she needed it to hold her over until she found another job,” Tanner says, and fuck if it doesn’t feel like a kick to the gut to learn that from him. It also makes more sense why she said she didn’t have a great track record with men and why she wasn’t big on the idea of dating me.
“You guys can’t let anyone know that her and I are seeing each other. She wants to keep it quiet for now.”
“I think Margret knows that something is going on between you two,” Mason says, and I look at him. “She said she saw you two kiss.”
“Well, tell her to keep quiet about it for now.”
“Will do.” He shrugs.
“Cybil also knows something is up. She noticed you going down to her place a couple of times,” Tanner says, and I cross my arms over my chest.
“Right, then everyone, just do me a favor and pretend like you don’t know something is happening between us.”
“You got it,” Tanner mutters, sharing a smile with Blake and Mason.
“How are the wedding plans going?” Tanner asks Blake, and he pulls the sledgehammer out of the wall, taking a huge chunk of board with it.
“I guess it’s going all right. Mom and Everly both stopped asking for my opinion around the time that the color scheme was being picked out.” He hands the hammer to Mason, then steps back. “I told Everly we should have just gone to Vegas, but she wasn’t having it.”
“It will be worth it in the end,” Tanner tells him while grabbing a large black garbage bag.
“I just want to marry her and adopt Sam; I don’t need the show.”
“Happy wife, happy life, man,” Mason says, and Blake looks at him.
“Yeah, are you going to stop playing house with my sister and put a ring on her finger?” he asks, and I wait, actually really interested in his answer. Blake and Mason were friends growing up, and with Margret being Blake’s twin sister, she was always around as well, only she was off limits. That doesn’t mean that we all didn’t see that Margret and Mason should be together. But Margret had just ended a seriously fucked-up relationship with the father of her daughter, and Blake had made it clear he didn’t want his friends dating his little sister. So needless to say, it took a while for the two of them to admit how they felt about each other.
“I plan on talking to your dad soon,” Mason tells him, and I rub the center of my chest. Blake and Margret’s dad has been diagnosed with cancer, something he kept a secret from everyone, but like all secrets it eventually came out. So far he’s been doing okay with the new treatment they are using, but I think we’re all worried that that could change at any time. “I was thinking of asking her on Christmas.”
“Well, okay then,” Blake says, then adds: “You have my blessing.”
“I’m past the point of caring if I have your blessing or not,” Mason tells him, and we all chuckle.
“Do you guys realize that we are all dropping like flies?” Tanner looks around the group, and then his eyes land on me. “Looks like you’re gonna be up next, brother.”
“I’m never getting married,” I tell him, and he raises a brow. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you guys and glad that you’ve found what you have, but I don’t see that in the cards for me,” I say, ignoring that voice in the back of my head, the one reminding me that I also never chased a woman before, but look at me now. Basically stalking a woman just to be in her presence for a few minutes, then acting like an ass when she reminds me that I agreed to keep things between us, all because I want everyone to know that she’s mine.
