Page 87 of Puck My Stepbrother

“Because I think youwantedLevi to walk in. Maybe you don’t see it that way, but it seemed pretty clear to me.”

I couldn’t deny that.

“Once that happened,” he said, “I knew this wasn’t going to work out. The problem was finding the right time and place to tell you.”

Well, you sure as shit found it, I thought, but that sounded too petty to say out loud.

“I guess,” I said, “if you really feel that way about it.”

“I do. I know I’ll find love one day, and that’s why I don’t mind stepping out of the picture. Think I’m the asshole of this story if you want to, but I won’t stand in the way of two people who are pretty obviously in love with each other.”

I drew a deep breath and exhaled. Levi could ruin everything even when he wasn’t trying to, and that drove me nuttier than anything else about this.

I hated what Jeff was telling me, but I couldn’t argue with him. He’d somehow won this argument with minimal effort.

I felt like my only hope was to just to exit the conversation as quickly as possible.

“We can still be friends,” he said. “Just not boyfriends.”

“I’m not sure I want to be either at this point.”

And I ended the call. Yeah, I wish I’d been more mature than that, but I couldn’t help my overwhelming disappointment. I had to do something that felt good.

When I headed back into the church, all I could think about was Levi and everything Jeff had said about us.

He couldn’t be right about that stuff. He just couldn’t…but I couldn’t strike the possibility from my mind.

34

LEVI

“I’d know that look anywhere,” I told Quinn.

“And what look’s that?”

“You got dumped. And it happened at the worst possible time.”

Quinn turned, and I expected him to run from me. He tended to flee practically anytime I had a point, and I readied myself to snatch his wrist and anchor him in place. Thankfully, my stepbrother-to-be didn’t run this time. Instead, he kept pacing restlessly.

“Okay, fine,” he said. “That’s exactly what happened, if you must know.”

“This wouldn’t be a good time for an I-told-you-so, would it?”

“No, actually, it would be the perfect time, Levi.”

“Well, I told you so.”

He grunted with frustration, seeming to struggle not to throw his hands in the air.

“You’re better off knowing he’s unreliable now rather than later,” I said. “Trust me.”

Quinn huffed. “But it’s a surprise. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this, you know. Jeff and I couldn’t have been more cut out for each other. This was supposed to work out.”

“This is what happens when youtellyourself you’re cut out for someone. If you really are meant to be together, you shouldn’t have to tell yourself anything. You should just know.”

And then Quinn’s eyes met mine. That told me everything I needed to know without a single word being said. I glanced over my shoulder, found clusters of wedding guests nearby, and knew we needed to get out of there.

“We need to talk,” I said. “Come with me.”