I looked up from reading a medical paper to see Jodie holding several pieces of fabric. “What exactly am I looking at?”
“I can’t decide on my wedding colors. Teal is gorgeous, but it’s used to death these days. I love this shade of pink, but I also really like the traditional white.”
“I’m not the right person to ask unless those pieces of fabric need a medical diagnosis.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I’m going to call my friend Chelsea.” She turned back to the guest room.
I put the paper down and stood. “Hey, Jodie, I’m going to head out for a run. Want me to grab you anything from the store on the way back?”
“No, thanks,” she shouted from the room.
After changing into sweatpants and a T-shirt, I grabbed my phone and keys and left.
I ran around the park a few times, but no amount of hitting the pavement helped relieve the huge elephant weight I carried on my chest.
Jodie was so happy, and Tanner was going along with the wedding plans. I felt guilty about seeing Tanner behind Jodie’s back, so we hadn’t done anything but lie in bed and talk while looking after Chip and Fry.
Tanner’s presence always relaxed me. I didn’t need a therapist to tell me why that was, but I was also stuck between the two people I loved most in the world.
I stopped by the water fountain and took a sip. If only there was someone I could talk to about this.
When I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time, I paused on my screensaver photo, a cutout image from Noah and Lior’s wedding celebration.
Tanner was looking at me rather than the camera while I had the biggest smile. Not the smile of someone who’d helped their best friend get fake married in Vegas, but the smile of someone who was absolutely head over heels in love with the person next to him. And I hadn’t yet touched him then.
I unlocked the screen and called Noah.
“Hey, Jax.”
“Noah, I need your help.”
“Anything.”
God, I fucking loved this dude. “I don’t know what to do about Tanner.”
I heard shuffling on the other side of the call, and he sounded closer when he spoke again. “You mean there issomethingto be done about Tanner?”
“You know there is.” I gave him the CliffsNotes version of how we’d been hooking up since the wedding and my sister’s surprise semi-permanent visit that had brought nothing but chaos.
“Fuck, and I thought my life was complicated.” Some more shuffling on the line where it seemed like Noah was covering his phone. “You better be naked when I get back, Lior Van Stern.” Another shuffle and he was back with me. “Sorry about that. Lior needed something.”
“Like your ass on his dick?”
“Something like that. What can I say? I finally broke him, and if he doesn’t want me to get my claws out, he’ll continue to give me all the orgasms.”
“TMI, Noah. Back to my problem.”
“Well, it’s simple from where I’m standing. You go to the bar and tell him exactly how you feel about him. Ask him not to marry your sister because he needs to marry you instead. Or stay married. Whichever applies.”
I choked out a laugh. “That simple, huh?”
“That simple. Now let me go because there’s a fine dick in the other room, and I have the sudden urge to sit on it.”
I pocketed my phone and started running toward Tanner’s.
Matt was at the bar cleaning glasses when I went in.
“He’s in his apartment.”
