“I know. I just—”
“Ssh.” He pressed his thumb to my lips and pulled me in tighter to him. “You can’t change it. Remember that. Colton will get over it, I promise you.”
I hoped he was right.
Because if he didn’t, I didn’t know what I was going to do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE – KINSLEY
rule twenty-three: nothing worth having comes easily. like relationships. or losing that last seven pounds off your butt.
Ivy was glowing. Despite the fact she was bemoaning her swollen ankles and was exhausted, her happiness shone in her eyes. She and baby Tegan Rose had been spoiled, and there were piles of books and clothes and toys and all kinds of wonderful little baby things on the two large tables in the backyard.
The whole area was an explosion of pink and lace and frills, and there was a long table along the back of Ivy and Holley’s parents’ backyard that was filled with gorgeous white and pink flowers and a delicious array of food.
If only I were hungry.
I’d barely eaten a thing since the incident at the duck parade yesterday. I’d only eaten some soup last night because Josh told me he was going to force-feed me it if I didn’t, but he’d left this morning while I was in the shower saying he was going to go back to the retirement home and see his grandma to find out what happened after we left.
“How you feeling?” Holley slipped up behind me with Tori on her heels.
I shrugged and leaned back against the tree trunk I’d been hiding by. “I don’t know.”
“He’ll get over it,” Tori said. “You know he will. Don’t beat yourself up.”
I gave her a weak smile. “I know, but it doesn’t mean I don’t feel guilty for keeping it from him.”
“Yeah, but is the sex good? Because I’d keep good sex from your brother if I were you, too.”
My cheeks flamed red hot. Oh, my God.
“Tori!” Holley choked back a laugh.
“What? It’s a valid question.” She looked at me and smirked. “And judging by that blush on your cheeks, Josh knows his way around the old g-spot.”
“Okay, seriously.” I held up my hands. “We are not discussing this right now.”
“How boring.”
Holley shook her head. “I don’t know how she’s never been arrested.”
“The secret is to not get caught.”
“Or do anything illegal,” Ivy drawled, joining the conversation. “Oh, it’s quiet over here. I like it.”
“How are you feeling?” I asked her.
“Tired. Overwhelmed. Wishing everyone would let me go back to bed with my cheese puffs.” She grinned, cradling her swollen stomach. “How are you after yesterday?”
“Wishing I could see my brother and at the same time, wishing I would never have to again,” I admitted.
“You knew this would happen.”
“Wait, you knew about this?” Holley looked between us.
Ivy nodded, taking a seat at one of the cast-iron tables that was nearby and empty. We all joined her. “Yeah, I knew a couple of weeks ago. Is that about right?” she asked me.
I shrugged. “Maybe? Close enough.”
Holley harrumphed in annoyance.
She hated not knowing everything.
“I kind of forced her into admitting the truth,” Ivy admitted. “It was right after they’d taken a big step—”
“They fucked,” Tori said confidently.
“—And she was a little lost and confused, and I helped her out some with it.” Ivy turned back to me. “We knew this was going to happen. All right, not in this way, but it still did.”
“I just wish we could have been the ones to tell him,” I said softly, staring down at the intricate mosaic pattern on the table. “It might have been different if we were.”
“You mean Josh wouldn’t have taken a right hook to the face,” Tori said brightly.
“Tori.” Holley scolded her, frowning.
“Yes,” I replied dryly. “Exactly that.”
Ivy slapped the back of her hand into Tori’s arm. “Which one of you is talking to him first?”
I sighed. “Me. Josh’s jaw is still bruised and swollen, and the last thing I need is my brother seeing that as a target. He doesn’t want to go to the emergency room, but I think it’ll be easier if I speak to him first anyway.”
Ivy nodded slowly, leaning back in the chair with an ‘oomph’ and a frown at her stomach. “Leave my bladder alone,” she instructed her belly before she looked back up. “Sorry. I agree with Josh. Colton is probably feeling more betrayed by him than you, since they had that stupid pact and all that crap.”
“A pact?” Holley raised an eyebrow. “What the hell?”
I quickly explained the pact Josh and Colton had made years ago when they were teenagers. “I mean, I get it, but it just seems kind of childish with hindsight. How could either of them have known what would happen years later?”
“Because men are dumb.” Tori didn’t even bat an eyelid. “They probably were arrogant enough to believe that the other one would never get feelings for their sister. Teenage boys are the absolute worst and really think the world of themselves, but what Colt needs to realize is that they’re almost thirty. Even an agreement made five years ago would be different now. Where were you five years ago? Where will you be in five years?”
“Well, I wasn’t pregnant five years ago,” Ivy replied. “Nor did I have any plans to get pregnant until I was at least twenty-nine, and that plan went down the toilet and fermented in the sewers.”
Tori flung out her hand, almost hitting Ivy in the face. “Case in point. Five years ago, you didn’t own the bookstore. Probably never imagined you would, but here we are. Something they agreed years and years ago was probably never mentioned again and only lived in Josh’s brain because he
