Page 128 of Dr. Brandt

“He was pretty cute about it,” I said, my eyes locking with Cam, urging him to follow my lead.

“Bullshit,” Collin said, looking like the cat who ate the canary. “Spill it, Cammy. Were you sappy, or was this a dud proposal?”

Cam and I locked eyes. There was no getting around this. These guys could sniff out a lie like a bloodhound on the hunt. And Collin was onto the game.

“It was a dud,” I said, thinking I might save this. There was no way I would tell them about Cam proposing after sex. It would never stop there. Ever.

“Total dud,” Cameron said, drinking his beer while Collin and Elena stared at us as if we’d robbed a bank and lied about it.

“Just how dud-like are we talking here?” Elena chimed in. The beautiful woman would roast us if we veered the tiniest bit off track.

“Right,” Collin pretended to act interested, “on a scale of dipfuck to dud, where’d your ass land? Dipfuck, of course, being at the bottom.”

“Right around the dipfuck portion of the dumbass scale you just created,” Cameron answered.

“Mm-hmm.” Collin eyed me, trying to get me to crack. “Go on,” he said dramatically, pulling Elena close to his side. “This shit is so hot and romantic, I’m—”

“Don’t interrupt, Col,” Elena said, both husband and wife trying to play Cam and me. “She’s just getting started.”

“So, I agree with Cam. It was very close to the dipfuck part on the scale,” I said.

“One would argue that I was the reason it all fucking flopped,” Cam played along, and now I had to hope I could hang with him.

“You fucked up the proposal?” Collin asked me.

I shrugged and took a sip of beer.

“So, we’re having this amazing sex. Amazing, off the fucking charts,” Cam said, and I kept a straight face while Collin and Elena knew they were being bullshitted. In fact, I don’t think they knew what to think. “Jessa practically needs a nap after I prove my worth to her—once again,” Cam said seriously. “Then, my lady rolls over, and while I’m trying to spoon and shit—being romantic, you know? It’s been a fucking year since I had her in my arms—and, to my surprise, she reaches for the phone.”

“Fuck you,” Collin responded to Cam. “How the hell did this shit go down, you two little bandits trying to keep shit a secret.”

“I grabbed my phone to see if Jacks was okay,” I said, playing into the lie. They seemed to start buying it now. “And, of course, I didn’t have any missed calls or texts from him.”

“So, I texted her,” Cam said, shrugging at Collin and Elena. “I should’ve been pissed, I know.” He shook his head, “But I wasn’t. She was just so beautiful, laying there, naked polished body—”

“Skip the details that would make us sinners blush,” Collin said. “You texted?”

“Anyway, with profound love, I texted her, Marry me?” Cam said, acting emotional.

All eyes were on me for my portion of the proposal lie.

“Well, I was about to locate Jacks on the GPS tracker, but I saw Cam’s text come through, and I checked it first.”

“Good damn thing because he might have smacked your bare ass while lying by you on the bed,” Elena said.

“Right,” I smiled, “I read the text and knew in my heart the answer was yes, but I wanted to verify Jacks was with you guys and didn’t drive off looking for a party like teens do. So, I just hit the thumbs-up emoji, and that was it. We’re engaged.”

“Oh, for the love of all fucks, hot and sweet. That is the biggest load of shit I’ve ever allowed anyone to go on about in my presence. The thumbs-up emoji as a yes?” Collin interjected.

“Hey, that thumbs-up emoji stole my damn heart,” Cam said, crossing his arms.

“That emoji is dismissive, and I hate it almost as much as I hate that lie,” Elena said, walking over to pull the pizza out of the oven.

“Not the thumbs-up emoji again,” Jacks said. I turned and crashed into my boy as soon as I saw him, hugging him tightly. “Did Cam do it again to you, Mom?”

“Do it again? What are we talking about here? Seriously?” Collin asked.

“Mom and—” Jacks paused, and he’d done this from time to time since learning Cam was his dad. It’s like he wanted to officially call him dad but hesitated out of uncertainty.

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