“Congratulations, man,” Ace managed to get out through his shock. “She’s beautiful.”
“Yeah, she’s amazing.” Tank stared down at the pictures with unapologetic devotion. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I don’t know what the hell I did to deserve her. I feel like I won the lotto.”
“That’s great. I’m happy for you.”
“What about you.” Tank looked up at him. “Last I heard you were headed down the aisle with Kendra or—”
“Kendall.” Ace nodded. “Yeah, that didn’t work out.”
“Good,” Tank said flatly.
“Good?” Ace would’ve expected that reaction from the old Tank who’d referred to marriage as a “life sentence,” but hearing his friend’s reaction after he’d just waxed poetic about his newlywed status was surprising and took him off guard.
“I never liked that girl,” Tank clarified as he put his phone away and finished dealing.
“Really?” Tank had been with Ace when he’d run into Kendall in Vegas, but he didn’t really know her.
“Something about her just didn’t sit right with me. I didn’t say anything because you told me you knew her from back home, but I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.”
Now that didn’t surprise him.
“So what happened with you two?”
“She cheated on me.”
Tank sucked in a hissing breath. “Damn.”
Ace felt like he was on Jerry Springer as he disclosed, “With my brother.”
“Oh shit!” Tank flinched as if he’d just been hit. “I’m sorry I asked, man.”
“No, it’s all good,” Ace assured him. “Honestly, it was for the best. I think we were both in it for the wrong reasons.”
Ace picked up his cards, ready to move on from the subject. It wasn’t that he cared, he didn’t. It just wasn’t something he really wanted to talk about, especially since he hadn’t even spoken to his brother about it yet.
After assessing his hand Ace set a card on the small table that divided the seat between them and waited for Tank to do the same. He hoped his friend would take the hint and drop it. When he didn’t play his hand, Ace looked up to find his friend staring at him in stunned disbelief.
People cheated, ended engagements all the time. It’s not like Tank was sheltered. He wasn’t sure why he was reacting the way he was.
“What?”
“Your brother? Damn, dude.”
Okay, so not dropping it.
“Yeah.”
“Did you kick his ass?”
Ace shook his head. He hadn’t. He hadn’t done anything. But that was going to change. When he got home, he was going to deal with Grant, talk to his parents and quit hiding from his life. After he had dinner with Stephanie, of course. He had his priorities in order and she was at the top of them.