“Isn’t it?” he snapped. “I’m standing there and he tells you not to forget your ring. Yourring, Jane. Right in front of me.”
“I’m sorry it happened that way. I didn’t?—”
“No,” he interrupted, scowling as he sat up a little straighter. “You’re not sorry. You never are. You just think you know what’s best for everyone, decide things based on your own opinions, and the rest of us just get dragged along after.”
A stinging pain spread through me at his words. “That’s not what I did.”
“Isn’t it?” he retorted. “So you didn’t decide to get married and keep it from me, then expect me to just welcome your husband into the family like it was nothing?”
“I didn’t make a big deal out of it because it wasbusiness,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. “It wasn’t some big romantic thing at the time.”
“At the time,” he echoed. “So it wasn’t, but it is now?”
I hesitated, wrestling with the answer just for a second, but he noticed it anyway.
“Wow,” he said flatly. “That’s what this is, then. You actually fell for him.”
“Yes,” I finally admitted, my voice barely more than a whisper because the word hurt coming out in the wake of that article, like it was a blade being twisted into an already open wound. “I did fall for him. He’s my husband, Wyatt. Having feelings for him isn’t a bad thing.”
I didn’t tell him about the article, or the photo, or the way my stomach had dropped right out from under me this morning. He didn’t need to know about any of that even if it was relevant to what we were discussing. Right now, I had no idea where Alex’s heart or head was at and I didn’t need to give Wyatt another reason to hate him.
My brother scoffed and looked away, his jaw working like he was chewing through something bitter. “I wasn’t even invited to your wedding.”
“I know,” I said softly, that one truth landing with a little more force than anything else he’d said so far. “I’m sorry. That was wrong.”
“Do you have any idea how that feels?” he asked, finally looking at me again. “Everyone else knew. Everyone else got looped in. And I’m just, what? The kid you didn’t think needed to know?”
“That’s not it,” I protested immediately. “God, Wyatt, that’s not it at all. Only a few people knew. It wasn’t everyone at all. I just was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From this,” I said helplessly, gesturing between us. “From the mess, and the pressure, and being pulled into something you didn’t ask for.”
He laughed, but it came out clipped, bitter, and humorless. “Congrats. You failed.”
My heart began pounding, my thoughts tumbling over each other. I’d handled situations that, on paper, had been so much harder than this, but Wyatt was my baby brother. The one Ipacked lunches for and who’d slept on my bed when he’d had nightmares after everything that had happened with our dad.
“You should’ve been at the wedding,” I conceded quietly. “I made a mistake keeping it from you, but you have to understand that it wasn’t some big, beautiful fairytale day. We went down to the courthouse. I didn’t wear a new, princess dress. I went in the closest thing I had to bridal in my closet and that was it.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the dress, Jane,” he snapped. “I’m allowed to be pissed off about this.”
“Sure, but you’re not allowed to be a rude, entitled brat about it,” I said firmly. “Alex is doing incredible things for this family.”
“Oh, well, that’s just great.” He scoffed. “So he’s taking care of us now. Is that what you’re saying? That he’s replaced Court and you want me to start calling himdad?”
I frowned. “No, Wyatt. Why would you even say that? I’m not your mother. He’s your brother-in-law, not your father.”
He huffed out a breath in response, crossing his arms tightly over his chest like he was done talking about this, but I wasn’t. Frankly, I was just getting started.
“Alex isn’t trying to replace anyone,” I said slowly. “He’s just trying to help.”
“Oh, right,” he sneered. “Because guys like Alex Westwood just swoop in and come to the aid of the needy for no good reason?” He shook his head, looking at me like I just wasn’t getting it, and honestly? I really wasn’t. “I don’t want his help, Jane. Not if the cost is my sister.”
“What?” My eyes widened, incredulity rocking me to the core. “Alex isn’t going to take me away from you.”
“That’s exactly what he’s doing,” Wyatt argued. “Whether you mean for it to happen or not.”
“No, Wyatt. Just… no. I’m not a toy that he grabbed and is holding out of your reach. We’re just married now, is all. Obviously, we’re spending time together.”
