Page 90 of Absolutely Pucked
I blinked at him. “What?”
He passed a hand down his face, then attempted to sag backward in the chair but sat right back up. “Who the fuck made this? Russian torture specialists?”
“I don’t think they make furniture,” I said dryly.
He grunted and shifted forward again. “You have this really bad habit of deciding what you think people need and making choices for them. Did you even ask Ford if he wanted you to go?”
“No. Because he’d have asked me to stay.”
“Uh-huh. Because his obnoxious, sorry ass is in love with you. You know that, right? Tell me you know that.”
I knew that. I swallowed heavily. “Does it matter? I’m not going to make him choose between you and me, Tucker. I’ve already made enough mistakes in my life.”
He burst into another fit of laughter. “Tell me about it. Do you know who called me yesterday?”
I frowned. “Mom and Dad?”
“What? Dude,no. They wouldn’t bother.” He took a beat, then with a grin said, “Fucking Delia.”
That felt like another punch to the gut. “What the hell? Why?”
“She was looking for you. Actually, she thought she was doing something by telling me you were in town—like she thought you were stalking me.”
“I kind of was. Sort of. At first.”
He scoffed. “Yeah. I mean, great job stalking a mostly blind man. Anyway, after I told her I knew everything, she tried to sell me on some bullshit about how leaving me for you was a mistake, blah blah. How you spent weeks while I was in the hospital convincing her that there was no point in being with a disabled man. That I’d never be whole again. That I’d never be able to take care of her with no legs and half an eye.”
I felt another rush of panic because damn it, eventhe tiny bit of progress I’d made with Tucker was about to go up in flames because of her. Again. “Tuck—er. Tucker. I swear to God, that did not happen?—”
“I know.”
“You have to believe—wait. What?”
He shrugged. “I know. I was always able to tell when she was bullshitting me. She wasn’t the one I couldn’t figure out, Kill. It was you who always threw me off.”
I had no idea what to say to that. “Um. If you want to know what actually happened?—”
“I don’t.”
I let out a frustrated groan.
“I know it’s killing you to not tell me,” he said, a tiny smile playing at his lips. He looked a bit like the boy he’d been when he was my high school bully. But then the sharpness softened. “You gotta let me have that for now, okay? But I believe you.”
“It wasn’t at the hospital,” I told him. “It was so long after. I would have never—God, I don’t know why I did it at all.”
“Clearly, you paid for it,” he said.
I had to laugh at that. “Yeah. The last few months have been a living hell. Actually, the last few years have been. I was too stuck in my own pride to get out earlier.”
Tucker drummed his fingers on the chair, then stood up and walked around the coffee table, dropping down next to me. For a moment, I thought he was coming in for a hug. Then he wound his arm back and hit me again.
“What the fuck! Stop it, or I’m going to hit you back.”
“That was for Ford.”
I raised my brows. “He would never hit me.”
“I’m aware, which is why I’m doing it for him. You walked out on him. You blocked him, you dick.”
