Page 100 of Absolutely Pucked
He burst into laughter. “Is that what he’s calling it? Oh my fucking God. Well, yes. Even after that. Youleaving was his worst fear, but he didn’t totally fall apart. He waited for you. He kept hope. And all you needed was a push.”
“And a punch,” I reminded him.
He laughed again. “Or two. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it’s all pretty fucked-up, but we were both right and both wrong about each other. I’m…I think I’m always going to be sensitive about Delia. I can’t help that.”
“I get it. I got my divorce hearing date today, and?—”
“Whoa, wait. Shit.Today?” he asked.
I frowned. “Yeah.”
“And you just let me anger and trauma dump all over you?” His voice was rising.
My hand shot out, and I snagged his wrist, squeezing tightly. “Tuck.” God, the fact that I could say that now felt amazing. “It’s okay.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted this moment more than I wanted to protect my feelings. Iwanta divorce. Ineedmy brother.” I hoped he was understanding what I was trying to get across.
He swallowed heavily and relaxed his arm. He didn’t pull back. “When?”
“I need to fly out the day after tomorrow so I can get everything ready.”
Tucker looked hesitant. “Is she going to be able to fuck you over?”
“I have a prenup that protects my savings, and I think with all the shit I have on her, she has no chance at alimony. Especially now that Daniel’s abandoned her and her swanky law team quit.”
“Is she using a public defender?”
“I—that’s not—” It didn’t matter that he’d gotten that wrong. I shook my head. “No. She’s representing herself.” That made me smile a bit. “Mom and Dad tried to get the funds to help, but they’re so deep in debt they couldn’t. And her parents wanted nothing to do with this circus.”
“So you could really fuckherover,” Tucker said.
I laughed. “Maybe. But she doesn’t have anything I want. She torched our marriage for a man who ultimately is pretending like she doesn’t exist. She’s having his baby, and the only win she’ll ever get with him is child support. She has no friends, no family except Mom and Dad, and you and I both know that’s not a prize.”
Tucker laughed, but the sound was a little sad. “Well…damn.”
“She thought she ruined me, but instead, she led me back to you and into the arms of the love of my life. There’s no better victory than that.”
“Shit, you’re right,” he said breathlessly. His sighted eye was kind of…sparkling. “God, there really is no better revenge than living well, is there?”
“Nope, and I know that for a fact. Nothing caused me more pain and more joy than seeing you happy,” I told him. “And now it’s only joy.”
His whole body went tense for a second, and then he threw both arms around my neck and yanked me in for a hug. It took me a moment to reciprocate. The shock was almost enough to make me pass out. But God, hugging him like this felt like all my broken pieceswere fitting back together in the way they were always meant to go.
“I love you,” he said. “We didn’t tell each other that as kids, did we?”
I sniffed, shaking my head. Fuck, I was going to cry again. I’d been doing so much of that lately. I held him a bit tighter, a bit longer, then pulled back. “I love you too. And I’m okay if we don’t get all…you know…schmoopy and shit. I know we won’t be best friends.”
“No,” he said. My heart hurt a little for that, and then he said, “You’re my fucking twin, dude. It doesn’t get closer than that. If we had kids, they’d be genetic siblings.”
I laughed. Our seventh-grade science teacher had a weird fetish for twins and kept giving our class random twin facts while pointing at me and Tucker. It had been awkward as fuck, but it figured that would be the one random fact Tucker remembered.
“Look, I should probably take off, but I just…” He bit his lip as he stood up and steadied himself on his legs. Then he looked down at me. “Thanks for this. I needed it.”
I wanted to ask if we were good now. If things were healing now. If I could meet his husband and be part of his life. But I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Not yet. My atonement wasn’t done. I had a way to go, and for now, he needed to call the shots.
“Come over for dinner when you get back,” he said. “You and Ford. It’ll be everyone. The whole family.”
