Page 27 of Too Close To Call

“But the kid has been there during those times,” Rod contributes helpfully.

My ass of a brother puts two and two together. Strangely I didn’t know he had it in him. “No, she wasn’t. Remember I told you I saw her at The Creamery. She was with Paul. Case and Tori weren’t there.”

All three men turn to me with pride in their eyes. “You had sex in the garage?” David asks.

Leave it to Rod to be the voice of reason. “No, even Case wouldn’t have done that.” Then he ruins it by adding, “I bet it was in the apartment upstairs. Isn’t that where Daisy and Tori are staying?”

“Or the office,” Bode says offhandedly.

My intake of air and guilty expression don’t go unnoticed, and the threesome zero in on my face.

Bode slaps the cushion and shouts, “Oh, my God! You went down on her in the office.”

I take a deep breath and count to ten before saying, “Okay. This conversation is over.”

“Case is right, guys. We wouldn’t like him ragging on us about our love lives,” Rod remarks, but he has a grin on his face. Somehow that cancels the two out.

“Fine, but I don’t see the problem,” Bode complains.

“The problem is…” I start to explain and my voice gets stuck in the back of my throat.

What is the problem?

Rod leans forward. “All of us had a rocky road to get to the good part. The forever after part. Why should you think you’re any different?”

David tosses in his two cents’ worth. “You remember how I had no idea who Shy really was. That almost tore us apart if I hadn’t gotten my head out of my ass and made a move.”

I remember David being ornery when he thought he’d lost Shy. He’d had to eat some major crow to get back in her good graces.

“And Kimberly is from one of the wealthiest families in the world. How do you think that made me feel? Insecure much? But I loved her and took a leap of faith that we could make it work.”

Yeah, Bode fucked up big time and Kimberly still took him back. My brother is the happiest he’s ever been.

Rod leans back and crosses one leg over the other. “At my age, I thought my days of finding a good woman to love and that would love me back were over. Hell, I never even looked or let myself hope to find love a second time. But then this incredible woman walked onto my ferry, took my life by storm, and now we have a precious daughter to add to our home filled with love.”

All this mushy crap is making me sick. “I know all this. I understand how hard it was for each one of you, but this isn’t like that. I met Tori when I was fifteen. The first day I met her, I couldn’t say a damn thing that made sense. Her father laughed at my inability to string words into a sentence. Then when I moved in with him and saw her every day, it was…”

I rest my elbows on my knees and drop my head into my hands. Nothing I say will relay the way I felt about Tori even from the start.

“Like your head is going to explode and you have someone you can share anything and everything with,” Rod says.

David is right behind Rod saying, “Like you can’t breathe and you think she’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and you want to put your dick in her?”

That truth gets a laugh from us all.

Bode looks off into the distance and stuns us all when he so eloquently says, “Like you feel comfortable, and safe, with a calm certainty. Being with her feels like home. It’s the most amazing thing that you can date hundreds of women, but your heart only belongs to one. Just one. It doesn’t matter what she looks like or what she does for a living. Hell, it doesn’t matter if she can cook—please don’t tell Kimberly I used that analogy, but we all know it’s true. All that matters is that she’s perfect because she’s the other part of me.”

Rod puts a hand on Bode’s shoulder and nods before continuing, “Case, you can’t turn that type of love off. You sure as hell can’t deny it. You celebrate that it’s there.”

David’s face turns serious. “Love is a powerful thing. You can’t force it. It’s either there or it isn’t. There’s no struggle if it’s real. I guess the question you need to ask yourself is if you’re smart enough, brave enough, to let all the other crap go and let the good stuff rise to the top.”

I shake my head. Who are these people? “Wow, you pussies have depth. I never knew you were so in touch with your feminine sides. Fine, I admit that I love her. But I’m not sure I trust her and without trust, we have nothing.”

“You mean you think she’d cheat on you again?” David asks.

I frown and shake my head. “No. Never. Tori isn’t like that. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true. Tori hurt me, sending me away like she did. Not once, but twice. I don’t want to live through that again. Who’s to say she won’t change her mind again.”

There’s too long of a pause and I look up to see all three men staring at me. Rod is the one who says, “There’s something more going on you’re not telling us about.”

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