Unfortunately for me, God must be busy elsewhere.
Ten feet from the ticket window, Lee turns, affecting surprise as his gaze catches mine. “Hey there, Geary, how the hell are you?” he says with an oily grin, showcasing his tiny, Chiclet-shaped teeth as he ushers the people in between us ahead of him in the line.
Why on earth he would think I’d want to stand next to the two of them is beyond me, but I am cool. Calm.
And I’m not going to strike a civilian, no matter how much I want to.
“Glad to see you out and about!” His brows furrow in a poor imitation of contrition. “Sorry again about the misunderstanding.”
In what universe is fucking another man’s girlfriend considered a misunderstanding? It’s not like he thought Rachael was someone else, and he knew we were in a serious relationship. He was banging her in my house, for Christ’s sake.
But I don’t say any of those things. I don’t say anything at all. I simply incline my head and shift my gaze to Rachael’s face, silently daring her to call Lee on his bullshit.
But her puckered lips only stretch into a tight smile. “Yeah, things like this are hard in a small town.”
I bite the inside of my lip hard enough to send pain flashing through my gums but it’s worth it. I don’t inform Rachael that I imagine being betrayed by someone you thought you loved is hard no matter what size town you’re living in. I just have to keep my mouth shut for another minute or two and we’ll be through the line.
“But you’ve been so cool about it,” Lee says, his eyes narrowing. “Makes a guy think.”
“Think what?” I shoot back before I can stop myself.
“Think that things ended up the way they should have.” He wraps an arm around Rachael’s waist, drawing her close as she makes a half-hearted attempt to push him away with her hand on his chest. “Rachael deserves a man who’s head over heels for her.”
That isn’t at all what she deserves, but I continue to hold my tongue.
Soon I’ll be inside, surrounded by family and ready to enjoy a night without any liars in it. My two oldest sisters and their five rowdy kids are always a good time, and who knows, maybe I’ll stay late after they leave. Maybe I’ll meet someone new tonight. Back before Rachael ripped my heart out with her claws and gnawed it to pieces, I was pretty good at picking up women.
Damn good, if I do say so myself.
“Stop, Lee,” Rachael murmurs as he presses a kiss to her cheek. “You’re embarrassing me.”
“Don’t be embarrassed, baby, Nash is happy for us,” Lee says with a smug glance my way. “Aren’t you, Nash?”
The urge to solve this with my fists rises inside of me again. If I hadn’t sworn an oath to protect and serve, I’m not sure I’d be able to control myself. I mean, seriously, how good would it feel to knock that leer off Lee Otter’s chubby face?
Very, very good.
He’s an even bigger asshole than he was in high school.
Back then, Lee had only one chin and was a decent football player, but not as good as I was. I was the quarterback and probably could have played college ball if I’d had any interest in getting my head smashed in for four more years. But I only played sports as an excuse to stay on campus after school instead of going straight home to help take care of my brothers and sisters.
I loved them all—still do—but there are ten of them for God’s sakes. That’s at least four too many for any reasonable couple to unleash upon the earth and six too many for my parents to have any chance of taking care of on their own.
They leaned on me and my oldest sisters a lot when we were growing up. It was something we accepted and made the best of, chipping in to help the Geary clan get by, but that didn’t mean we didn’t crave time alone. Time to be individuals instead of one of the Geary horde.
Between three-thirty and five-thirty during football season, and every game night, I got to be just Nash, not Nash the surrogate parent or the short order cook or the referee for my younger brothers, who made it their mission in life to wrestle each other to the death as soon as Mom left for her evening shift at the candle factory. It was my time, and my oldest sister Raleigh stepped in to run herd over the tribe until I got home.
That’s what meant the most to me—the space to be myself—not the game.
Lee had seen that and hated me for it. I can’t count the times he whined that I should quit and give someone else a chance to lead the team if I didn’t love football the way the rest of them did.