Easton stood and blocked the door when I tried to leave. He touched my arm, but instinct made me pull away from his comfort.
“What happened to you?” The heartbreak all over his face had a name, and it was called Knox MacKenzie. I did that. I put it there.
“I just … didn’t think you’d abandon me like this.”
“What’re you talkin’ about?”
“I thought we were best friends, then he came along, and I’m old news.”
Easton huffed a laugh. “You sound like Percy. Am I only allowed one best friend? I can’t have a best friend and a lover? I’ve waited my whole life for this. I didn’t think it would ever happen. And then it did, and I couldn’t wait to share it with you, but it killed me because I knew you wouldn’t be happy for me. I want you there. I want you beside me.”
“I don’t know that I want to be.”
Easton flinched like I’d hit him. His mouth opened like he was about to speak, then it closed again, and he shook his head. He studied me a minute, pain radiating off him in thick waves. While he searched my face, I stared at the ground.
“You know,” he mumbled. “I’m startin’ to think Lachlan was right. I don’t know how I didn’t see this before.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Right about what?”
“Nothin’. Forget it. You know what? You kinda killed my buzz, Knox. Go home.” He went into the other room, leaving me on my own at the front door.
“Dammit.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, parsing through the tangle of emotions overwhelming me.
When I went looking for Easton, I found him outside on the back deck. He was sitting in a lounge chair, legs parted, elbows on knees, head tipped forward, and looking glum.
I took a seat beside him. The October air blew through my flannel, but I was too numb to feel the cold. “I miss when it was just you and me. You’re moving on, and I’m … not. I guess … I always figured …” I couldn’t explain it, mostly because I didn’t understand it.
“I’d never abandon you. Just because I want to start a family doesn’t make you any less important.”
Then why did it feel like I was second best?
He looked over at me. “Are you really not interested in being my best man at my wedding?”
The hurt staring back at me cut deep. I bit the bullet, swallowed my pride, and said, “I’ll be your best man.” Even if it killed me, and Easton had no clue how shattered I was inside.
He grabbed the back of my neck and dragged me against him for an awkward side hug.
“I love you, even when you’re a confusing dick.”
I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. Absorbing Easton’s comfort, his scent, allowing his touch to calm the storms inside, I closed my eyes and breathed.
Chapter Two
Lucky
Everyone’s eyes told a story. If you looked deeply enough and had patience, you could unfold the mysteries they held close to their hearts, even when they didn’t speak, even when they thought they were hiding their secrets from the world. No two stories were the same, just as no two people were the same. It was part of the reason I loved my job. The exposure to so many people gave me the chance to explore their inner workings without them ever having to say a word to me.
Of course, some people were more than willing to pour their life stories at my feet, especially when they had a few too many mugs of beer. It was the quiet, unassuming ones I preferred. I loved watching them. Listening with my eyes instead of my ears. You could hear what people weren’t saying by merely observing. It was fascinating.
Knox MacKenzie was my newest puzzle.
His eyes told a story of sadness, pain, and a loneliness I could feel in my bones, even when it wasn’t mine to feel. He’d been sitting at the same table for the last two hours, staring into the same mug of ale without drinking it.
Something had happened. Knox was a regular at the brewery, so I knew him well enough, even though we hadn’t spoken a whole lot. It was my second year in Jasper, and this guy had been dissolving before my very eyes these past few months.
Gnawing a minty toothpick, grinding it between my molars and rolling it to the other side of my mouth to chew it more, I watched him. I read