The last thing I wanted to be was the reasonable one. I almost wouldn’t mind punching Archie in his smug face. Almost.
Except as irritated as I was, Archie wasn’t who I was mad at.
“We’ve known each other for years.” For a brief moment, I studied Jake. “Elementary school.” Then I flicked a glance at Bubba. “Junior High.” Finally, I shifted to look at Archie. “High school.”
Guilt. Anger. Worry. The room reeked of it.
“We’ve been friends for most of that time. Frankie was never a sore spot because we were all so sure none of us would be the one.”
“Speak for yourself,” Archie muttered, but I ignored him.
“We didn’t have to fight over her cause we could have our cake and still hang out with her. We all knew where we stood—or at least where wethoughtwe stood. We all agreed she needed to be protected from everyone else if she didn’t want to date, no one got to pressure her. No one got to talk about her either. Her mother’s a bitch, so we did our best to make sure school wasn’t.”
Bubba leaned his head back and sighed. The weight of it punched through the room.
“Now,” I continued. “Everything changes because weknowshe wants to date. I’m not stepping out.” I spared each of them a long look. “Don’t even think that I’m backing off.”
“I already asked her to not just date one guy,” Bubba admitted and I almost laughed as Jakestaredat him.
“I told her todaywasa date,” Archie said, spreading his hands in a hey, it’s me gesture. “Just to make sure she didn’t miss it.”
That was three of us. We all looked at Jake. He’d been pissed at her. Really pissed. I still had no idea what the hell that was about, but it was something. That bothered me way more than I cared to admit.
“You’re all assuming she’s gonna drop Frenchy.”
I shrugged. “Not assuming a damn thing. He’s here until Christmas. Then he leaves.”
“Oh, yeah,” Archie said and you could hear the smile. “Still too long, but definitely a brighter side.”
“Like I said before, I asked her to not limit herself to one guy. Since she is dating Frenchy and she went out with Arch today, maybe she is taking the advice.”
“Excellent.” Archie definitely brightened up. Ass.
Probably one of the reasons I liked him. He always came up swinging.
“So, what you’re saying is we all try to date her?” Jake didn’t sound so certain.
“WhatIam saying is that I plan to make it very clear to her how interested I am. That no one, not Frenchy, not any of you, is going to push me away. I want a chance, I’ll fucking grovel if I have to in order to get the chance. If you don’t want one—” Now I shrugged. “Then it’syourloss.”
“Fuck you, Coop.” Jake scowled.
“No thanks, you’re definitely not my type.”
The ballooning tension in the room popped. Archie and Bubba both laughed, but I met Jake’s glare easily even as he struggled to maintain his temper.
He lost and finally cracked a smile of his own.
“We’re idiots,” Archie admitted, still chuckling.
“Big ones,” Bubba said, not unkindly.
Jake looked up. “So what now?”
Just like that, we were all on the same side again. Would it last? I didn’t have an answer. I looked at the guys and thought about Frankie holding herself together with stubborn pride and sheer exhaustion.
Frankie, who backed us on every damn thing we wanted to do even when that involved dating other girls. Her comment about Laura still rang in my head.
Fuck. I needed to break up with Laura.
