Page 15 of Pucking Only

“Right here,” Grace replies, shooting him a friendly smile.

The guy glances at me before handing her the bag. She gives him cash and he turns to leave. Once he’s out of sight, Grace turns her gaze to me once more.

“Well? What’s it going to be?” she demands to know.

I sigh. “I’ll behave.”

She gives me a firm nod. “Good. You can come in then.”

Grace turns and walks back into the apartment, hooking her arms with Skyler to pull her further inside as well. I follow them, shutting the door behind me.

The girls go into the kitchen with the food. I make my way to Jensen, who’s standing in the living room. Jensen is grinning at me as I reach his side.

“Hey, man,” he says, his tone teasing. “How’s it going?”

“Couldn’t have given me a heads-up, huh?” I grumble quietly. “Let me know that Skyler was in town?”

Jensen chuckles and shrugs. “How was I supposed to know Grace hadn’t told you that Skyler was arriving today? I’m just an innocent bystander in this little drama.”

“Please,” I scoff. “You and Grace tell each other everything. It’s fucking nauseating how open you are with each other. Grace told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t she?”

Jensen’s smile widens. The bastard isn’t even sorry.

“Gotta keep my lady happy,” he says as if that’s an excuse for leaving his bro flailing out in the wind.

“I will make you pay for this,” I grumble.

He slaps me on the shoulder. “Hey, she’s your sister! I promised you I’d make her happy, right? Just keeping my promise.”

Grace appears next to me and holds out a beer.

“Here you go,” she says with a little smirk. “I know you don’t like wine.”

“Thanks,” I say, taking the bottle. I crack it open and take a long drink.

“Let’s eat,” Grace declares. She waves her hand toward the kitchen where Skyler is busying herself getting the food out of its containers and putting it all out onto serving plates. She’s keeping her head ducked, as if she is intentionally avoiding looking up at me.

Her glasses slide down her nose a bit. She pushes them up with her middle finger and brushes her hair over her shoulder, revealing her long, graceful neck.

I take another drink.

We all sit down around Grace’s kitchen table and dig into the food.

“Look at you, being all sweet and domesticated,” I tease Skyler as she hands me a plate of orange chicken. “Preparing me a plate like a good little wifey.”

She scowls and stabs one of her chopsticks into a piece of chicken, stealing it from the plate.

“I would need to be lobotomized before I became your wifey,” she replies, waving the piece of chicken in front of me before popping it into her mouth.

I grin and wink at her. She pretends to retch.

“Play nice, you two,” Grace orders, exasperated. Jensenchuckles and lifts her hand to press his lips against her knuckles.

Skyler gives me a final, arched-brow look, then turns her gaze away. She doesn’t look at me again for the rest of the meal. She gives her full attention to my sister and Jensen.

I stuff my face while I watch the girls interact. Actually, I’m mostly watching Skyler. As she chatters away with Grace, her eyes are bright and her easy smile lights up her face. She seems happy and is quick to laugh while she all but ignores me.

I feel a strange sense of frustration. Once upon a time, our banter and teasing was fun and good-natured. I’d treat her the same way I treated Grace. Even if I was picking on her, I was careful never to go too far because I didn’t actually want to be mean. Somewhere around the beginning of high school, that all changed. Skyler pulled away and our interactions went from light-hearted to more hostile and real. I thought maybe she’d have mellowed out in our years apart. It’s clear I was very wrong.

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