“You make me super cheesy.”
“This is my fault now, hmm?” She socks me lightly in my right pectoral muscle. “Whatever.”
“Did you have a good time?” I ask a few moments later, once we start to grow quiet. I want to ask her before she falls asleep, before she has too much time and distance to really know how she felt about today.
“I—did?” She says it like a question.
“It was pretty bad, huh.”
“Your dad was nice. So was Addie and Trent.”
“I think Diane was trying,” I venture.
Jensen actually snorts. “Please. More like she was trying to make me look like a fool every chance she got.”
“You really think so?”
She lifts her head a bit so she can meet my gaze. “Absolutely. She was slinging very subtle insults my way.”
Damn, how did I miss that? “She sucks.”
“Yeah, she does.” Jensen strokes my chest, her touch light as a feather, making me shiver. “Your brother is a complete asshole.”
“Tell me all about it.”
“No, I’m serious. He was terrible to me. He cornered me when I got out of the bathroom, told me some crazy story about your father sleeping with an old girlfriend of his, and then I made the big mistake of admitting I knew about him and Diane.”
Oh. Shit. “You told him you knew?”
“I did mention his affair with Diane.” Jensen makes a face. “He threatened me.”
“What the actual fuck?” I pull away from her and sit up, running both hands through my damp hair. “He threatened you?”
She nods, biting her lower lip. “It was my mistake. I should’ve never said that to him.”
“Doesn’t give him the right to threaten you, Jensen. Jesus.” I glance over at my phone where it sits on my beside table. “I should call him.”
I’m reaching for my phone when Jensen lunges for me, batting my hand away. “Don’t call him.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Just—leave him alone. I’m sure he didn’t mean to threaten me.”
My ass. “Yeah, right. I’ll text him then.” I grab hold of the phone this time and she yanks it out of my hand, tossing it onto the floor. I glare at her. “Why the hell did you do that? You could’ve broke it.”
“I didn’t, you’re phone’s fine. Listen.” She grabs my hands, staring into my eyes. “Don’t talk to him about this. It’ll just upset him more. Let’s just—forget it ever happened.”
The problem is I won’t be able to forget it. And why should I? My brother is acting like a total asshole toward my girlfriend. He deserves to be called out for it. “Why are you letting him off the hook?”
“I’m not. Not really. I don’t want it to be a bigger problem than it needs to be, you know what I mean?” She smiles, but it doesn’t look real. “It’s okay to let things go sometimes, Rhett. To be the bigger person.”
“Clearly my brother can’t do that,” I mutter, shaking my head.
“Is it true what he said? About your dad having sex with his girlfriend?” Jensen asks hesitantly.
I stare at the wall, thinking, but I come up with nothing. And you’d think I’d remember something like that. It’s pretty major. “Not that I know of.”
“Could he have made it up?”