Page 26 of Inked Obsession

I felt like I was on stage in the middle of a play, and I didn’t know how I had gotten there. I didn’t know my lines, my cues. I knew nothing. I had people to rely on. I had my brothers, and the Montgomerys.

Beckett.

No, Beckett didn’t get his own shoutout. He couldn’t. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or maybe it was the right time.

I didn’t know. I didn’t want to think about the odd, warm feeling I’d had when he held me.

He was just a touchstone. It would be wrong to think about him in any other way. Even though I knew he was going through something, too. I could see it in his eyes, but I wasn’t going to think about that either.

I couldn’t.

Because that would be wrong.

“I made these cupcakes from scratch,” Brenna said.

“Mine, all mine,” Paige said, clapping her hands.

I snorted. “Wow, that’s wonderful,” I said with a laugh. I walked in and hugged each of them tightly. Tears stung the backs of my eyes, but I pushed them away.

I had done enough crying while on Beckett’s lap. I didn’t need to do more.

“So, how did your video messaging call with your brothers go?” Annabelle asked as she poured herself the sparkling cider she had brought.

I sipped some of my wine and shrugged. “They want me to move down there, they’re going to help figure out if what Natasha is saying is true, and they’re all big and growly and want to take over everything.”

“Wait, they want you to move down there?” Paige asked, her eyes wide. “You can’t move to Texas. That’s so far away.”

“I might have to move,” I said. “I mean, who knows? My brothers might kidnap me and, suddenly, I find myself living in Texas again.”

“You don’t want to live in Texas,” Brenna said, incensed. “Not that there’s anything wrong with living in Texas. You live in Colorado. With us. We’re your family now. Not that your brothers aren’t amazing…” She trailed off, and I laughed.

“Well, at least one of the brothers I met was amazing,” Annabelle said as she fluttered her eyelashes. “Elliot is cute,” she added, laughing.

“Oh, right.” Paige nodded. “I forgot. Does Jacob know?”

“No, and it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like he’d be jealous. That was a long time ago, when Elliot was stationed here for that minute before he moved away. And when I wasn’t even in the mood to date.”

Annabelle had had her reasons for not wanting to date, but now she was happily married, pregnant, and moving on with her life. I had to figure out how to do so, too.

“I don’t have plans to move to Texas. I might one day, but I’m here now. I have you guys. I have a career. There might be a child with Marshall’s eyes out there. I don’t want to think about that right now. Can we just eat some cheese and cupcakes and call it a day?”

“I also brought vegetables,” Annabelle said and cringed. “Apparently, I should stop eating soft cheeses, wine, fish, or whatever else pregnant people can’t have.”

“My heart is with you,” Brenna said before she sighed. “Seriously, though, I hope you guys are okay. I love you all. You can’t move away. There’s enough change going on. You need to stay,” Brenna said, and I wondered exactly what she meant by that. Instead, I sat down, ate snacks with my friends, gorged myself on Brenna’s amazing cupcakes, and pretended that everything was okay.

It wasn’t, and I didn’t know how it would be. I’d find a way. Somehow.

By the time they left, I was tired and just wanted to take a bath or maybe go to sleep.

My phone rang, and I frowned, wondering who it could be.

I looked at the readout and rolled my eyes. “Hello, big brother,” I answered as I picked up Eli’s call.

“Hey, I’m not pressuring you, but I have an idea.”

I frowned. “Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all.”

“You said you’re taking a break in commissions, right?” he asked, and I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me.

---