Page 61 of Second Chance Husband

“We’re just friends.”

“I don’t think I ever did that with my friend before,” Luca said, and I glared at him.

“Weren’t you fake dating your best friend?” I asked, speaking of Addison.

“Yeah, and I married her. Because I love her. So, want to do that again?”

I rolled my eyes, and nearly let out a cheer when the bar opened. I slid away from my brothers and was first in line to get a glass of whiskey, and because I was gracious, I got two more for my brothers.

I handed the glasses over to them, before lifting mine in salute and taking a sip.

I cringed at the taste, though it wasn’t the worst whiskey I’d ever had, but it was fine. We would leave the next day, and I wouldn’t have to deal with this much longer.

Whatever this was.

“So you’re really not going to talk about Paisley. I like the two of you together.” I glared at Heath, but he continued anyway. “It’s okay if you guys are casual, or just figuring things out, but don’t lie to yourself and say you’re just friends. I see the way that you look at her, the way that you have always looked at her. Be truthful about it. Figure out what you want, and make it happen. Because she looks at you the same way, bro.”

“We’re not like that. We tried that before, and it didn’t work.” I gestured around the mockery of a wedding with my whiskey glass. “Look what happens when you believe it can work repeatedly. It doesn’t.”

“You were nothing like our parents,” Luca whispered, and I was grateful that he whispered, considering that there were so many of their friends around us.

“Even so, history repeats itself.”

“With them. You got married when you were too young, fine. But you guys aren’t young kids anymore. You guys are adults, with jobs, careers, and futures. You have people that like you separately and together. Figure it out, August. You’re not our parents.”

I shook my head and downed the rest of my glass.

“I’m going to go find Paisley. I left her alone too long even though I’m the one who dragged her here.”

“She’s off with our wives having girl time. You may have dragged her up here, but she’s still with her friends.”

And that was the problem. Because these were her friends. My family. I was such an asshole.

I moved past the partygoers, ignoring my brothers’ shouts for me, and made my way to Paisley. I just needed to figure things out. But as I rounded the corner, everything shifted once again.

“I saw the way that you were looking at him.” My dad.

“So? You had your hands on Nancy’s ass,” my mother spat.

My parents stood in front of each other, her in a lacy ivory dress, my father in a tan suit, and couldn’t help but wonder once again why I was here.

Their faces were pressed toward one another as they yelled, before they would move back and begin to pace. They were still at their goddamn wedding, still wearing their wedding shoes and wedding rings. It had just been forty-five minutes since they had vowed to love each other above all else—including their own kids. But no, they couldn’t even handle forty-five minutes before they realized that they had made a mistake.

You could’ve colored me shocked.

“I wasn’t dancing with Nancy. I was just making sure she found her seat since she was drunk.”

“You had your hands on her last year.”

“Because we were on a break.”

“Don’t bring that TV show logic here. I don’t care if we were on a break, and we were sleeping with other people. We also had Nancy in our bed together if you don’t remember that. And you’re still touching her?”

There were some things a son shouldn’t know. Like the fact that apparently my parents sometimes had an open relationship. Which I wasn’t going to judge, but the fact that they sometimes judged their daughter for having a poly, closed relationship where the three people loved each other with every ounce of their beings?

No, I was done. So done.

“If you guys are going to keep yelling at each other and pushing out wild accusations, I would do it a little quieter before your guests hear. They can still take your wedding gifts back, and I’m pretty sure that’s why you keep getting married. For the free shit.”

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