Page 90 of Vegas with my Brother’s Best Friends

“Because if anyone is going to be too far up her ass, it’s you,” Jackson replies, flashing him a warning look. “I get you want to help her, but you see how she has been lately. She’s flighty and sensitive right now. You’re just going to overwhelm her.”

“Or do you want me to pull back so that you can be the hero? Again?” Marcus asks, his expression growing stony.

“Stop,” I manage to say, but I can hardly hear my own voice.

Jackson rolls his eyes at Marcus. “It’s not about that. One of you is completely checked out. The other is too in her face. I’m keeping the balance.”

“Because you’re so perfect,” Marcus mutters under his breath.

Jackson stops in the middle of the lobby and turns to face Marcus so abruptly that Marcus almost runs straight into him. “What did you say?”

“Okay, stop,” I bite out sharper, pushing the two of them apart. “We all need a drink, and we all need to stop speaking our thoughts right now. It’s not helping anything.”

Jackson and Marcus stare hard at each other for another few seconds before finally backing off.

I exhale slowly as Jackson turns around and continues on toward the bar connected to the lobby. It’s bad enough that we’re getting the cold shoulder from Ryan. We can’t be tearing at each other’s throats too.

We’ll never make it out of this in one piece if that happens.

When we step into the bar, most of the bar stools are taken, but there is a gap toward the far end that we make our way toward.

“Shit,” Jackson mutters, slowing his pace.

I glance around him and freeze in place at the sight of Ryan and Derek seated at the bar near where we were going to sit.

“Maybe we should…” Marcus trails off when Ryan glances in our direction and immediately frowns.

Instead of throwing his whiskey in our faces or cussing us out, Ryan says something to Derek that I can’t hear and gets up from his seat. He tosses money onto the bar and pockets his wallet, abandoning the remaining half of his drink.

Derek does the same and follows Ryan away from the bar. He doesn’t look disappointed and bothered like Ryan, though. There’s a slight tilt to his lips.

He looks smug.

We stay still as Ryan passes by us, his eyes not meeting ours. Is this how the rest of the week is going to be? We’re mere days away from the wedding, and the groom doesn’t even want to look at his groomsmen.

“Karma’s a bitch, huh?” Derek comments under his breath, his shoulder clipping Jackson’s as he passes.

Of course, Jackson can’t let that go. His hand lashes out and snags the front of Derek’s shirt, jerking him backward so that they’re face to face.

“What did you say?” Jackson questions him.

Derek tenses up, nearly losing his balance and stumbling into Jackson. “Let me go.”

Jackson leans close, ignoring Marcus’ hand on his arm to try to pull him back. “Tell me what you said. Say what you’re thinking to my face.”

Ryan pushes at Jackson’s shoulder, making him lose his grip on Derek’s shirt. “Knock it off!”

Derek steps back, glaring like he’s some kind of threat.

Not from what I’ve seen.

“I can’t believe you’re friends with this asshole,” Jackson says with a scoff.

“Jax,” Marcus warns him. He’s nearing a line that we swore to Cassidy that we wouldn’t cross.

“Really? You think he’s the asshole?” Ryan questions Jackson. “At least he had the balls to tell me himself that he wanted to date my sister.”

Jackson lets out a dry laugh. “But did we break her heart and make her question her own worth?”