Picking up the acrylic card box, I turned it over in my hands. Next week, Dex would be married, and I would be…probably still not fucking Demi or anybody else.I set the box down and lifted the silver knife set. “I’m surprised Bliss isn’t pitching a fit about this. No bling.”
Dex chuckled. “She bought it.” Bliss’ profession as a matchmaker made her extremely invested in our happy endings. Paityn had doused her little flame when she’d decided on a quickie backyard wedding at our parents’ house. Dallas destroyed her plans by getting hitched at the courthouse right before she went into labor. And Blake had yet to set a date for her nuptials, much to my sister’s chagrin. “She quickly realized I wasn’t going to give her a big wedding when Charlye decided she didn’t want to get married at the family church,” he explained. “I did promise we’d jump the broom, though.”
Charlye was the perfect match for my twin because she kept everything simple. Neither of them wanted a huge wedding party. She’d only chosen two bridesmaids—her sister and Dallas. Dex had asked me and Justus, his best friend and Charlye’s brother, to stand up with him.
I took a seat at the kitchen table. The thing about Dex was he’d always been steadfast. He was the family counselor, and I needed his counsel tonight.
Dex joined me and handed me the mug of coffee. “You good?”
“I am,” I admitted.
He eyed me over the rim of his mug. “What’s bothering you?”
When we were younger, I’d deemed myself as my brother’s keeper. I didn’t care who it was, I was ready to fight if anyone said something out of pocket to him or any of my siblings. Dex was different, though. He was the level head to my hot head, the reserved twin while I was more outgoing. The experts called it compensating personalities. I just called it our life.
Around third grade, though, I started to appreciate Dex’s calm presence in my life. As kids, he was my sounding board; someone I could talk to about pretty much anything. He’d often talked me out of making bad decisions. As we got older, Dex had never changed.ButI did. Staying close but distant became a necessity because I was doing things that I wasn’t proud of, things that I knew would be a disappointment to them. Although Dex had never turned his back on me, my experiences made me more cautious about the things I shared.
I leaned forward, clasping my hands together. “I hesitated about coming here. You know how I am about talking about my shit.” The people closest to me knewsomethings but nobody kneweverything. And I preferred it that way.
“Circle tight, mouth shut,” Dex said, repeating something I’d told him years ago. I knew my brother understood the sentiment very well, since he’d lived his life the same way.
“Exactly.” Yet, if I wanted to tell anybody my business, it would be Dex. Xavier would be a close second choice.
“But you’re here. You obviously need to talk about something.”
“Demi,” I admitted.
Dex frowned, setting his mug down. “OurDemi?”
My Demi. “Yeah.”
“You’re not changing your mind about the house, are you?”
“Nah, man,” I assured him. Demi and I would finalize the purchase of his home within the next couple of weeks. “Everything is all set on that front.”
“What is it?”
“It’s just her.”
Leaning back in his chair, Dex smiled. “I thought I saw something at Christmas.”
“What did you see?”
“Even before that,” he added. “A look. The way you are with her. Attentive. Protective.”
I waved him off. “I’m like that with all of my sisters.”
“Demi’s not your sister,” Dex tossed back. “At least, not in the way that would prevent you from having feelings for her.” I stared at him, trying to communicate with eyes that myfeelingswere the problem. He seemed to get it, because he said, “How long have you felt this way?”
Shrugging, I mumbled, “Shit if I know. One day I just looked at her and wanted to…” I scratched the side of my face. “She’s beautiful.”
“No doubt,” he agreed.
“And smart.”
“Absolutely.”
“Sexy.”
