Page 82

That’s what the problem is.
Sighing, I weave my way around the pool table to my booth. “Hey, can I talk to you for a sec,” I say to her, forcing myself to focus on her face and not the fact that’s her tits are hanging out and she’s practically sitting in this guy’s lap.
She looks away from the guy she’s talking to and aims her grin at me for a moment. It fades when it slips past me and lands on Declan, standing a few feet behind me.
“Are you for fucking real?” She’s not talking to me, but I answer her anyway because an argument between her and Declan is not something I want to referee.
“Yes, I am.” I reach for her arm and hold it, making sure my grip is loose. “Now, Tess.”
“Look, dude—” Half-drunk College Boy holds his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t know she was taken.”
“Taken?” Tess wheels around and glared at him. “I’m a person, dickbag—not a parking space.”
“I—that’s not—I mean, yeah, but—” Now College Boy widens his gaze, bouncing it back and forth between Tess and Declan like he can’t decide who he wants to piss off less.
“Stop talking before you get yourself hurt.” Tess rolls her eyes and starts to scoot across the bench to stand.
The guy opens his mouth, but I cut him off before he can say something he’ll regret.
“Nope.” I tell him, careful to keep my tone as casual as possible. “Shut your mouth, drink your beer and you might live to see tomorrow.”
Like Tess, the guy looks past me, his gaze landing on Declan. Whatever he sees clamps his mouth shut.
“Good boy.” Looking down at Tess I sigh. “Please?”
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” Again, she’s not talking to me. She’s talking to Declan. “Why do you even care? You left me. You didn’t want me anymore, remember? You got what you—”
I pick her up and throw her over my shoulder and she immediately starts yelling at me. Turning, I jab a finger at my brother. “Leave him alone and get back to work.” Turning again, I carry Tess away from the booth, weaving through the crowd toward the office. As soon as I have the door open, I drop her onto her feet and shut it behind us both.
“What are you doing?” I look at her shaking my head when her jaw tightens. “Seriously, Tess—what the fuck are you doing?”
She throws her arms up and shouts. “I’m trying to have a good time, but Mother Superior out there can’t mind his own goddamned business.”
I scrub a rough hand through my hair. I don’t have an answer for that one. “Since when does a good time mean looking like this and—” I gesture toward what I’m seeing. “I mean, Jesus—what are you even supposed to be?”
She looks down at herself and shrugs. “A mechanic.”
She’s wearing a pair of her work coveralls, peeled down, the arms tied around her waist. Instead of a T-shirt or tank top like she usually wears, she’s wearing one of Henley’s fancy lace bras, her breasts on full display. Aside from strategically-smeared axle grease and tattoos, she’s not wearing much else.
“A mechanic in what? A porno?”
She glowers at me. “Can I go now?”
Reaching up, I snag the hem of my shirt and drag it over my head. “Put this on,” I say, tossing it at her.
She doesn’t even try to catch it. Lets it falls to the floor at her feet. “You’re shitting me, right?” She kicks the shirt at me. “I’m practically wearing a snowsuit compared to most of the chicks out there.”
“One—we both know you’re only doing this to get a rise out of him. Two—you’re not most of the chicks out there so, please—” I bend down and pick up the shirt to hold it out to her. “—just put the shirt on, because I don’t want to have to dig a hole for the poor son of a bitch who makes the mistake of thinking you are.”
She stares at me for a few seconds, her jaw set at a mutinous angle. “Fine.” She finally reaches for the shirt I’m offering her. “Even though this is complete bullshit…” Tess pulls the shirt on, letting it drop over her head. “It’s been eight years. When do we get to be happy?” She tugs at the hem and it falls past her knees. She looks up at me, her chin trembling, hazel eyes gone bright with tears. “When do we get to stop watching them be happy without us, without it feeling like someone’s got our guts in a meat grinder?”
Happy? Declan’s not happy. He’s fucking miserable. He’s miserable and stubborn and stupid. He’ll marry Jessica because he thinks that by marrying her, he’s serving penance for the things he did. The pain he caused. He’ll marry her because it’s the one thing Tess would never forgive him for. The one thing he thinks will finally set her free.
“I don’t know, Tessie…” I shake my head. “Maybe when it stops hurting when we try. Maybe when we can do it without hurting someone else.”