Page 3 of His Bittersweet Regret

Unfortunately, I heard more than just that argument between my parents over the past couple years, and Cramer wasn’t wrong. Just because it happened with my parents, after nearly thirty years of marriage, didn’t mean shit, right? That didn’t mean it would happen with Opal and me.

“I was planning on going to get her a ring this weekend.”

“What? No! No fucking way. Brix, Bas! Get over here, quick!” Cramer shouted. I wanted to fucking punch him again.

“What’s up?” Bastion asked as they both sauntered over.

“This idiot wants to get a ring for Opal this weekend and make it official and shit.”

“Aw, man, and here I thought we were finally getting through to you!” Brixton lamented before sipping on his beer again.

“Dude, you don’t even know if you’re having good sex,” Bas taunted.

“I get off just fine, thank you.”

“My point exactly. You think that just because you get off, that the sex with Opal is good. You two fumble-fucked your way through losing your virginities to one another and it’s probably just been trial and error – if that – ever since. You know what variety is, brother? It’s the spice of life. There are things other people teach us that we didn’t even know we needed to learn, and that can’t happen if the only woman you’re ever with is Opal.”

Oddly enough, that was the one point my brothers had made that I couldn’t argue with. There were times when the sex was just a way to scratch an itch. There wasn’t really anything exciting about it. It wasn’t always like that, but it had been a lot lately.

There was also the issue of the intense buzzing energy I felt when I’d talked to Tandra earlier in the evening. I hadn’t felt that kind of energy since I first asked Opal out and we started dating at fifteen. It was a crazy mix of excitement and anticipation. I stared at my best friend and brothers, wondering if maybe I should have stopped being hard-headed when I was in college and listened to them.

I knew I’d missed a few experiences by living at home and going to a local state college as opposed to what they had all lived through. Granted, I was also more financially stable already because I wasn’t bogged down by major student loans the way they all were. Truthfully, I think the tradeoff was better on my end in that respect, but it didn’t stop me from wondering what I’d missed out on. Who I had missed out on. What those experiences might have been like had I not been hooked on Opal all this time.

I loved her. There was no denying that. Still, there was a part of me, especially recently, that wondered if maybe there was something more out there. If I was missing out, like everyone kept telling me I was. Even my father had given a few subtle hints that maybe I needed to truly be on my own for a bit to see what life was like without Opal before settling down with her. He told me he didn’t honestly see me with anyone else, but that he also didn’t want to see me struggle with regrets and what ifs the way he had from time-to-time through the years.

“Looks like he’s finally giving things some serious thought, fellas.” Brixton was a dick, but he also wasn’t wrong.

“Think about all that sex you could be having. Right now, Tandra could be sucking you off in the bathroom, or you could be fucking her on the counter. If not her, maybe you could make Cass’s dreams come true and let her have the final Kennedy brother.”

“What about Ryker? Wouldn’t he be the final one?”

“He would have been if he hadn’t fucked her last weekend when his girl broke up with him,” Bastion informed me.

“Jesus, are you serious? He’s not even eighteen yet.”

“So what? Our baby brother was plenty willing.”

The scowl I sent my brother’s way only made him laugh. “Come on, Marsh, let’s go find that little blond you were so hot for. You’ve never been with anyone else. Maybe, it’s time for a real change of scenery to realize that you’ve been missing out on quite a bit of life while playing happy couples with the first girl you dated.”

My stomach tossed and turned with nerves as I allowed my brothers to guide me back over to the girl who I had been so infatuated with earlier. Guilt tickled somewhere in the back of my mind, but I quickly doused it in another beer. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Just talking to a girl. For some reason, the argument that my parents had, played out in my memory, and reminded me that my father hadn’t physically done anything wrong with another woman either. My mom had still felt completely betrayed by the actions he took.

The minute Tandra smiled up at me, I forgot all about the troubles my parents had and how they related to what I was doing. I forgot all about my girlfriend, and the fact she had gone home not feeling well. Definitely forgot that I told her I wouldn’t be much longer before I joined her at home. Instead, I let myself go and enjoyed talking to a woman who intrigued me and offered a heightened level of excitement I hadn’t felt in a really long time.

3

Opal

“What are you going to do if you are pregnant?” I whispered to Bethany, my best friend since seventh grade, and the only person who didn’t seem to have an issue with the fact that I’d found my soulmate at fifteen. She thought it was romantic that we had stuck together this long and still seemed happier than ever together.

“No clue,” Bethany mumbled. “What are you doing?” She asked as I grabbed one of the ten pregnancy tests she had purchased from the pharmacy earlier.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Figured I’d take one with you. Bestie solidarity!”

Bethany laughed and then hugged me as we each held a test in our hands. “Thanks, O. I needed that laugh.”

“You probably needed the laugh more than you needed all ten of these tests. Why so many?”

It was her turn to shrug. “I didn’t know if one worked better than the others. Why don’t you go first?”

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