Page 16 of Finding Fate

“Yeah, tourist girls can’t resist a good beach party, huh, Patterson?” Noah Reynolds nodded, waggling his brow in insinuation. He ran his comb through his already perfectly styled hair. “How you passed up that one chick for Lisa, man, I’ll never get. But hey, your loss, my gain.”

“Don’t mention it,” Tucker groaned. “Lesson learned.”

“But funny as hell for the rest of us. She followed you around like a puppy for weeks…classic,” Hector Gonzales laughed, “Sweet, food’s here.”

Conversation stalled as the six guys gobbled down their food. They were heading out and clearing the table when Hector asked if they were up for basketball.

“Can’t,” Tucker replied, “I’ve got a shift in an hour.”

“Bummer, catch y’all later then.”

“Later.” He stepped outside and stopped in his tracks, watching Wesley flirt with some random chick by his car. The girl giggled and ran her fingers through her hair, giving him that hopeful, promising, look Tucker knew all too well.

“What the fuck?” He glared, his hands twitching at his sides as his stomach turned. Izzy would be devastated. He barely moved a step when Jet caught his arm.

“No. Not here.” His expression spoke volumes compared to the calm in his voice.

Tucker nodded, still seething as they climbed in his truck.

“Drive,” Jet instructed from the passenger side. Tucker fumed, not understanding why his friend wasn’t as pissed as he was, but he jammed his key in anyway, tearing out of the parking lot, and turned at the first light so he could race down a back road out of town.

“That’s bullshit!” He finally exploded. “Half the guys in this town bust their balls for years wanting to date Izzy, and he fucking goes and pulls that?”

“Yeah, it’s fucked up,” Jet agreed.

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“Annie mentioned some stuff the other day.”

“And you didn’t think to say something?!” he accused, his knuckles turning white against the wheel. The truck pulled at a sharp curve, and Jet shot him a look.

“Annie talked to her, and if you hadn’t been so busy trying to avoid what’s going on, you might have noticed. That’s what they were arguing about when we walked up today.”

“What?” He frowned. “And I’m not avoiding anything.”

Jet rolled his eyes, knowing he’d have to force his friend to talk about it. “Dude…I know this is new for you, but you seriously can’t be this slow. It’s so obvious.”

Tucker paled, slowing to a normal speed. “Does Izzy know?”

Relieved that he was going to admit it, Jet replied, “I don’t think so, but your timing is seriously off, man. Now, we have to convince her to break things off with Wesley before you can do anything.”

“No!” Tucker snapped, dragging a hand across his face in frustration, “I don’t need this. I don’t want this. I don’t want her with that jerk either, but I don’t want to want to have sex with her. Biggest dumb ass plan for ruining our friendship.” He growled under his breath, white-knuckling the wheel again as he turned at the loop to head back to town. “I can’t. But I can’t stop thinking about her either. Those legs, man, her chest, her skin… All I have to do is look at her now. I’m fucked man, and fucking isn’t helping.” He sagged in his seat, winded at the admission.

Jet stared at him in shock. “That’s what you’ve been doing about this? That’s what you think is going on?”

“Yes,” Tucker muttered, disgusted with himself. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. It’s like I, suddenly, out of nowhere, noticed how incredibly hot she is. All she has to do is breathe, and my body reacts. How could I let this happen?”

“Wow,” Jet thought in disbelief, “he’s got it worse than I thought.” He’d have to try this a different way.“Remember last Christmas when my car was leaking oil? We kept messing with the oil pan, we changed out the gasket, we changed the lower cover, but it ended up being an internal routing tube causing all the problems? I think this might be one of those internal things.”

Tucker gave him a doubtful look.

“I’m not saying you don’t want her like that. She’s hot. I’m dating her twin; I would know, but isn’t it possible that there’s more to it? I mean, couldn’t you actually really like her?”

Tucker’s brow furrowed as he considered the idea. “I did notice her smile. And her laugh. God, her laugh is beautiful.” But no, it had to be about sex. It was always about sex with him. Wasn’t it?

“Dude, fill me in; what are you thinking?”

“I don’t know, man.”

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