“With as happy as they both seem? That would be pretty shitty of me. Actually, it’s made me reconsider how I had always characterized the end of their marriage.”
“You mean the way you thought their divorce was entirely your fault and that you were a terrible person and unworthy of love because you had torn your parents’ precious relationship asunder?”
“Asswipe,” I answered. “Also, yes.”
He chuckled, but his eyes were sad. “I overheard a little bit of their conversation with you. What they were saying about Sawyer… they might be onto something.”
Ugh. Loved-up people were always trying to get the people in their lives just as loved up. Even though he was way off base, I didn’t hate it.
“That’s wishful thinking on their part, Oz. They like the fact that he’s so boring. They want there to be something more between us because I’d be safer under his watchful gaze.”
“Wow, you really are an asshole,” Ozzie muttered.
“In what way?”
“After you dragged yourself to my house—from Mexico—Sawyer sat at the foot of your bed for the better part of three days. In a suit, watching you like a hawk. And that was just the beginning. He’s spent the last three months helping you get back on your feet, and all you can say is that he’s boring. Which you know is a lie.”
I bit at my lower lip, remembering how Sawyer’d made me go on a long walk with him yesterday, then rewarded me with a shower that had my eyes rolling back in pleasure. So, yeah,boringwaswrong. That didn’t mean that Ozzie—or my parents—knew what the hell they were talking about.
“Look,” I said, “I can understand how my parents would misread the situation, but where is this coming from? You’ve known Sawyer as long as I have. There’s no way that he?—”
Ozzie’s expression stopped me.
“Wait, Oz. You really believe that there’s something there? WithSawyer?”
“I wasn’t gonna say anything because it’s none of my business, but yes.”
“Yes, what?” I asked, no less confused.
“Yes, I think he has feelings for you.”
Agnes doesn’t have feelings,I thought.He’s just got a fantastic prick and knows what to do with it.
“I don’t know what is more suspect, the idea that Sawyer has feelings, or that he has feelings forme.”
“Why is that so hard to believe?”
“Have you met the man? He has more starch in one shirt than I’ve used on my entire wardrobe, ever.”Hell, half the time he doesn’t even allow me to speak in bed.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“We’re oil and water, Oz. You should see the way he’s bossing me around like?—”
“Like someone who cares for you? Who’s worried about you? Like somebody who can’t stand the thought of you being in pain?”
“But he’s that way with everyone.”
“No, he’s not. He’s there for all of us, but he treats you differently. He seriously wouldn’t leave your side, so I sorta tried to talk to him about it?—”
Record scratch.
“Wait. You tried to talk to him about his feelings for me?”
My heart sped up, but not in a good way. The thought of Ozzie pushing his way into the little bubble Sawyer and I’d created for ourselves felt wrong.
“He cut the conversation short,” Ozzie answered, running his hand over his beard, “but he didn’t deny what I’d seen. The more I think about it, the more I suspect he’s been in love with you since high school.”
I blinked at my cousin, not understanding the words coming out of his mouth. “You have lost your fucking mind.”
