Page 117 of Just One of the Groomsmen
“Just remember one thing…” Addie picked up the cards Easton had dealt her and peeked at them, keeping her expression carefully neutral. “It was all Ford’s idea.”
“Thanks, Murph,” Ford said. “I appreciate it.”
She winked at him. “Anytime.”
Tucker nudged her with his elbow. Despite knowing it was going to hurt, she’d have to look at him eventually, so she figured she might as well get it over with.
Sure enough, misery surged forward, rushing through her beat-up heart and trying to break the barrier she’d erected around it to prevent her emotions from spilling out.
He didn’t say anything, and when she arched her eyebrows, he pressed his lips into a tight line and cocked his head, likeshewas the one being difficult.
What was she supposed to do? Come over all broken and red eyed and beg him to try? To give them a real chance?
So that he could repeat how not-serious they were. A big no thanks to that.
Ignoring the fact that shedidfeel broken inside, she smothered those weak emotions the best she could and reached for a beer.
After their second round, Tucker stood and announced he was grabbing more drinks, and that Addie was helping him. She opened her mouth to beg off, but before she got out the words, he snagged her arm and hauled her to her feet.
In the name of keeping the peace, she went along with it, following him over to the kitchen area before tugging free.
“You’re ignoring me,” he said.
“IwishI could ignore you,” she said, since she was super good at comebacks.
“Can we just get through poker, and then, after everyone else is gone, we can talk it out?”
“Why? We already talked it out. I told you I had a job opportunity and that it would mean moving away, and you practically did cartwheels over all the freedom you’d have. I had no idea being with me was so confining.”
He gritted his teeth. “You’re being ridiculous.”
Her blood pressure skyrocketed. Did he actually just call herridiculous?“Yep, that’s me. It was ridiculous to think you and I could cross lines without everything getting all screwed up. Even more ridiculous to think that you’d want to be with me, even if it wasn’t convenient.”
“If you think what we’ve been doing is convenient, you need a vocabulary lesson.”
She jabbed a finger at his chest, the angry heat surging to the forefront getting the best of her. “Well, if you think liking you is super easy, then I’ve got news for you, buddy. You’re a regular jackass sometimes. I’d count now as one of those times.”
“You’re hard to read and stubborn as hell.”
“Like you’re an open book? I have to hand it to you, that ‘this feels right’ line was a nice touch.”
“Ouch.I’d never feed you a line.”
“And yet I ate it up anyway.”
Tucker dragged a hand down his face, frustration etching his features, and he could join the freaking club because she was right there with him. “Addie, you asked for my opinion on the job, and I told you that you’d be crazy to give up an opportunity like that. And you would! You should take it and run with it.”
“You’reliterallyyelling at me to leave. Don’t you see how that might hurt?”
“I won’t be your excuse to not take a risk.”
The band around her chest tightened even more, no longer allowing for breaths. “And see, the difference is, I wanted to take a risk on you.”
“You are!” Tucker flung up his hands. “I’m a huge risk. That’s why you should go.”
“This arrangement doesn’t allow you to tell me what to do.”
“Then what good is it?” he roared back, and everything inside of her shattered. The barriers broke and the pain spilled out, flowing everywhere until every inch of her hurt.
