Page 11 of Third Wheel

Kincaid

Amy appeared shell-shocked at the number of people who had shown up to help her move out of Jeremy’s house. And embarrassed. And so damn grateful she was running around nearly in tears, trying to help everyone who was trying to help her.

Eventually, Kincaid made her sit down on a chair in the bedroom, so everyone in there could show her things, and she could say keep, donate, or “not mine,” and ordered her not to move from that spot. Because while some things were obviously hers, not everything was, and there were some things she decided not to take with her.

She didn’t want to touch the bed, which was why he’d put her in the chair.

After they were done, he moved her to the kitchen while Morgan, Asad, Q, and Sam packed up everything they’d sorted in the bedroom. Her parents, Zach, and Marissa, all pitched in for the kitchen, holding up the things they’d pulled out that they thought might be hers.

While they packed up, Morgan and Amy went into the bathroom while he and the other three moved around the living room and television room, pulling things out that were likely Amy’s.

“Pretty sure these DVDs are all hers,” Q said, running his hand over his dark, bald head. “Unless Jeremy is a big chick flick fan.” He held his hands up when his girlfriend gave him a suspicious look and grinned. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with chick flicks. I’m just saying Jeremy seems like the toxic masculinity type who would think there is.”

Sam huffed in agreement, sighing as she came over to look.

“You’re not wrong, but I think all the DVDs are hers. I don’t think Jeremy owned any.”

“Because who still has DVDs, much less a working DVD player?” Kincaid quipped.

“Well, if you’re going to make fun of me about it, you don’t have to watch them,” Amy said from behind him, a large thread of anger in her tone. As they’d gone through room by room, he’d noticed that she’d started moving from gratitude at the support from everyone to sadness. That she was heading toward anger didn’t surprise him, but he also didn’t deserve her ire.

He turned and gave her a hard look.

“I wasn’t making fun of you; I was making fun of me. I have a DVD player and a collection. Which Zach often makes fun of me for, so if you’re going to take it up with someone, take it up with him.”

Amy immediately blushed, the rosy hue filling her cheeks as her shoulders slumped. Ah, dammit. He’d preferred seeing her a little riled up with more fight in her over back to being sad.

“Sorry,” she said, reaching up to nervously tug on the end of the ponytail. “Being here is starting to get to me.” Her gaze skittered away from his to scan the room, a mournful expression replacing the remorse. “It wasn’t all bad, you know.”

“It never is,” Zach said, coming up behind Amy and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him, giving him a little smile.

Something about that little glance between them made Kincaid’s chest squeeze tightly. He pushed the sensation away.

“If it was all bad, you would have broken up with him a long time ago. No one is terrible all the time.”

“Most people aren’t terrible until you’re in too deep to realize that they’re terrible. Like Noelle,” Sam said, scowling. “Though I don’t think any of us could have actually seen that coming. There aren’t words for her.”

“Yeah, but she was a good friend… until she wasn’t.” Amy frowned. “Though the more I think about it, I’m pretty sure all the times she was there for me, encouraging me to vent about Jeremy, all the times she let me cry on her shoulder… she was probably already fucking him, wasn’t she?”

It felt odd to hear Amy curse. Kincaid didn’t know her that well, but he couldn’t remember ever hearing her curse before. He was pretty sure he remembered Zach saying something about that, too. It was a mark of how upset she was that she said it that way.

Zach moved his hand from one shoulder to the other, putting his arm around her and hugging her into his side. On one hand, Kincaid approved. On the other, Zach was not an affectionate touchy person, so he normally wasn’t touchy with anyone but Kincaid and only in private. Stifling the rising jealousy that Zach clearly had no problem touching Amy in front of others was difficult.

Considering what she went through just yesterday, what kind of heartless asshole wouldn’t give her comfort right now?

Especially because she clearly needed it. Amy leaned into him for a long moment, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

“It’s okay, no one answer. We can’t know for sure, but…” She tilted her head back to stare up at the ceiling, and now Kincaid’s chest hurt for an entirely different reason as his heart ached for her. “I’m pretty sure. Anyway, I’m going to go to the kitchen and help finish up in there.”

“I was actually just coming to tell you that we’re done,” Zach replied apologetically. “This is the last room, then we can take everything to our house until you can get a storage unit.”

Amy blinked.

“Oh. Wow… that was fast.”

It was fast. Everyone had come together to make it go a lot faster than it would have if she’d been on her own. Which had been Kincaid’s plan. He didn’t want her to have to be in this house one second longer than absolutely necessary. Even though she could stay here, even though she had rights, he was glad she wasn’t going to be here when Jeremy and Noelle got back.

She deserved a hell of a lot better than what they’d likely put her through if she was.

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