I had my answer. Ryan would be taking his shirt off every night until we were old and gray. Great.
“You’re just jealous,” I added, rubbing salt into the wound that was my younger brother’s heart.
You wouldn’t know it by watching Nick in this moment, but Ryan was definitely the most romantic of us three. I wasn’t sure if he’d watched Disney movies on the sly growing up, but he was dying to find his one true love. It killed him that he hadn’t found the love of his life yet.
I never understood his overwhelming need for it, but then again, I wasn’t really one to talk. Maybe I didn’t understand romance at all? Apparently, I wasn’t very good at it, as I was learning.
“Damn straight I’m jealous,” he said with a smirk.
“This girl right here is my entire world,” Nick said.
He wrapped an arm around Jess and kissed her like no one else was in the room, making her cheeks redden the way they always did whenever he made his public declarations of affection for her. I think Nick secretly loved embarrassing her.
“I love her more than anything, my brothers excluded. I hope you all get as lucky as me someday.” He planted a kiss on Jess’s cheek. “But not with her, because she’s taken and I’ll kill you.”
Jess tossed back her head and laughed, then looked for a place to sit as Nick made his way back behind the bar.
Ryan caught my eye. “I want that. Don’t you want that?”
I cleared my throat, casting a glance at Claudia, who happened to be looking right at me. No, I didn’t want that. It wasn’t my style.
“Or maybe you have that?” he added. “Nah, you and Shelby are like a miserable old married couple.”
“Shelby and I aren’t cheesy and twelve years old,” I said with a scowl.
“No, you both act like you’re eighty. And you can’t stand each other, yet you stay together. It kills me for you, especially when I see the way you look at Claudia. I’ve never seen you even look at another girl before.”
“Can we do this later?” I growled, not wanting to have this kind of discussion ever, but especially not while the bar was open and packed with people I didn’t want knowing my personal business.
“Count on it,” Ryan said before disappearing.
A couple cleared their seats at the bar for Jess and her crazy best friend, Rachel. I made my way over and greeted them both with a quick hug. If I ever tried anything less, Rachel would do something insane like hop on my back the second I turned around and claim that I was her horse as she waved a hand in the air. I always pretended to be annoyed by her, but the truth was that she was a lot of fun, and I loved it when she was around.
“Frank, ready to date me yet?” Rachel asked. She was always flirting with me, but it was all in good fun. She had a mad crush on Ryan that she knew was never going anywhere, so I got the brunt of her playfulness.
“I’ll take you out tonight if you’ll let me,” I said, flirting back. Hell, it was easy to play with someone when you didn’t really mean it.
“You sweet-talker.” She winked before shouting at Ryan, “Why is your shirt still on, Fisher? Don’t you know I come here for the free show?”
“Please don’t encourage him,” I begged.
Rachel leaned toward me. “I can’t help it, Frank. If you took your shirt off, I’d encourage you too. But you’re all,” she frowned and waved a hand up and down the length of my body, “covered up all the time.”
Jess laughed. “Oh my God, please ignore her.” She ducked her head and covered he
r face with her hands.
“He couldn’t ignore me if he tried. Frank loves me.” Rachel batted her eyelashes, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
My gaze left the girls momentarily in search of Claudia, and I noticed that she and Britney were talking with a group of guys. I ground my teeth, not liking the idea of someone else getting Claudia’s attention, or that she might like it. I must have looked for a minute too long because both Rachel and Jess turned around, curious.
“Who are you looking at?” Rachel asked, and Jess pursed her lips.
I stayed silent, refusing to answer the question. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I realized in that moment that Nick had told her everything. Jess knew all about Claudia, but mercifully kept the information to herself.
Rachel kept glancing around, clearly taking stock of the women in the room. “Please tell me, Frank. I’m dying.” She coughed into her fist. “See? Literally dying to see what your type is.”
“My type?” I asked, somewhat baffled.