Page 88 of Reckless With You

“Okay, this is the plan. All of us as a group go over and bombard him tomorrow, and then we bring him down to the Montgomerys.”

Everyone stopped talking and looked over at Thea, who shrugged.

“What? We’ve all gone through shit, and sometimes, it takes a big group of loud friends on a holiday for you to smile a bit. I’m sorry that he’s going through all of this, though since a few of us have gone through our own versions of hell, I can tell you that sometimes you just need to be forced into being loved. It’s the only way to fix it.”

Dimitri leaned down and kissed his wife on the lips before whispering something into her ear that I couldn’t hear.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said, sighing.

“He needs us,” Devin said. “It might be a good idea because I don’t really know what else to do. I hate that he’s hurting and pushing us away.”

“I did the same thing to you guys, and I’m sorry.”

“Tobey was a dick,” Zoey said, and Caleb looked down at her and smiled. They shared a look and then quickly looked away.

Interesting. Again, I wasn’t going to get in the middle of it.

“Yes, he was a dick. But that’s not important now. What’s important is Tucker. I need to make sure he’s all right.”

“Good.”

“And if I have to kick his ass for hurting you, I will do that after we make sure he’s okay,” Caleb said casually, and my other two brothers nodded sagely.

“You don’t get to do that,” I said quickly.

“Oh, we do. It’s our prerogative.”

Thea sighed. “It really is,” she said, and Erin and Zoey nodded, as well.

“We’re just friends. That’s it.”

“We’re not going to go into the details of why you two aren’t only friends because I don’t want to have to gouge my eyes out,” Caleb began. “But you’re not. And you’re hurting right now. I don’t know if it’s because Tobey’s not here or if it’s Tucker.”

“Way to make me sound like I’m full of drama,” I said, a little annoyed.

“That’s not what I meant,” Caleb grumbled, and Zoey glared at him.

“We’re all used to them being here. Tobey’s not here because he’s a dick, and I’ll continue saying that.”

“I can’t believe I was so wrong about him.”

“We all were,” Devin said. “But he’s gone now. And fine. Fuck him. But the important thing is that you’re here with us. And we’re going to make sure Tucker is, too. You two can figure out what the fuck’s going on between you later. But the main thing is that we need to make sure he’s okay. Because he’s family. Part of this weird, strange little family that we made.”

I sighed, nodded, and then the doorbell rang.

We all looked at each other, and tension gripped my belly.

“I have a feeling you’d better get that,” Dimitri said, looking directly at me. “It might be nothing, but there are Christmas miracles and all of that.”

I bit my lip and stood up, leaving the rest of them in the living room, even though I knew they would likely follow me soon. I walked to the foyer and looked through the peephole, to make sure it wasn’t an ax murderer or something.

Then I sighed and opened the door. And just looked at him, wondering what the hell I was going to do.

I loved him. So damn much.

I never meant to.

I hadn’t meant to fall at all.