“I hear you had an eventful night.” Beau’s shit-eating grin had me concerned.

“No clue what you heard or who you heard it from. I went home.”

“Yeah, with Peyton.”

“You knew that. You watched me leave with her, moron.”

Beau hadn’t even let me get out of the truck at Ty’s house before he bombarded me. As tempted as I was to accidentally shove the door into him when I hopped down, I refrained and glared instead.

“Yes, however, you didn’t mention a night-time swimming excursion under the stars.”

I slammed the door behind me. “You sound like a travel agent. Don’t you have something other than me to worry about? Like a lawsuit.”

“Yeah, that’s being taken care of, and since I now have no life of my own, I’m interested in yours.”

“Don’t be. Nothing happened.”

“There’s a pissed-off brunette who disagrees.” He nudged his head toward Ty’s house where Masyn stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

“Oh, that’s rich. She’s ticked? Did she mention who brought her by my house? Speaking of, why didn’t you take her home?”

He shrugged. “She wanted to go with him.”

“And you let her?”

Beau scoffed and scrunched the left side of his face. “I’m not her keeper.”

“Any idea why she’s mad?” We hadn’t moved, and neither had Masyn.

I kept her in my line of sight without making eye contact. Her body language led me to believe she was on the verge of detonating, and I had no interest in being near her when it happened.

“I answered that last night.”

“I meant, has she specifically told you what has her panties in a twist?”

Beau pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket and took a piece out. He began to unwrap the foil when I swatted the damn thing out of his hand. “Beau!”

His brow drew in with irritation. “Lee!”

“What good is it to have you as the go-between if you don’t know anything?”

“Here’s an idea. Man up and talk to her.”

There was no way in hell I’d go within striking distance of Masyn Porter when she was angry with me. “I’d like to keep my balls another day.” I chanced a front-facing glance, which I instantly regretted. “Not to mention, she went home with Toby. I don’t know why we’re standing in Ty’s driveway talking about this. She’s never cared what I did with any other girl. Peyton shouldn’t be any different.”

“Whatever, man. Your funeral.” He bent down to pick up the piece of gum still securely tucked in the wrapper he hadn’t gotten off before I’d knocked it to the ground. With the same devious grin he’d given me upon arrival, he popped it into his mouth and started chomping away.

“Maybe we should have let you marry Felicity after all. Chewing like that, you’ll never get another date.”

He laughed and turned toward the garage. I had no idea why he was in such a good mood. Maybe Beau was thrilled to be rid of the noose that had strangled him for the last few months…or he was enjoying watching me dance around Masyn—probably both.

“Hey, man.” Masyn’s oldest brother and I were close. We hadn’t been as kids with a six-year age difference between us. It wasn’t until I started working at Farley’s that we spent any time together, and at that point, eighteen and twenty-four weren’t all that different.

“What’s up, Ty?” I extended my hand, which he took and pulled me into his chest in a cross-body embrace.

“Not much. Just working. And apparently bailing my sister out.” Ty and Masyn had a love-hate relationship. He was protective as hell of his youngest sibling—he also didn’t hesitate to tell her where to stick it. “Not what I had planned for Sunday.” He griped about working on her car, yet if she’d taken it somewhere, he’d be pissed she wasted her money.

“Any idea what’s wrong with it? With the tornado Beau brought into town, I haven’t had a chance to look at it since we left it at the shop on Friday.”

“Alternator.”

“At least it’s an easy fix.”

“Yeah, I got the parts yesterday. There’s beer in the fridge if you want to grab one. Donna put ’em in last night, so I’m sure they’re cold.” He glanced behind me at Beau. “You’re welcome to grab one, too. You need me to get you some gloves, pretty boy?”

Ty loved to give Beau a hard time. Ty had always been well liked and quite popular. He’d played football in high school, and we lived in a town where football reigned and Ty was the king. Beau had been awkward and shy until junior year when puberty happened, and then so did the girls. Unlike Ty, Beau had never been a jock, he’d been preppy—Ty hadn’t been a huge fan of sissies or preppy guys. Beau had been the exception—which probably had more to do with Masyn than Beau himself—and he’d enjoyed giving him a hard time.

“I’m not working on that thing. That’s what mechanics are for.” And comments like that did little to endear Beau to a blue-collar man, who happened to be a mechanic. Thankfully, Ty was immune to Beau and thought his cracks were jokes instead of cuts. “At what point does the car become so worthless that fixing it doesn’t make sense?”

Ty threw a rag at Beau, who didn’t even attempt to catch it, and in fact, watched it hit his chest and then fall to the ground before looking back up and staring at Ty in wonder. I shook my head. Beau was clueless, not cruel.

“When the owner can afford to replace it, and this one can’t.” Masyn huffed and stomped back into the house.

I hadn’t realized she was in the garage listening to us. Any other time, she’d be under the hood with her brother, not inside chewing the fat with her sister-in-law.

“She’s been in a shit mood since she got here. What the hell has her in an uproar?” Ty asked as he twisted the cap off a longneck.

“Lee.” Beau had a death wish, and I might make his dreams come true.

I held my hands up, careful not to drop my beer. “Don’t look at me. She left Sadler’s last night with Toby Hayes.”

Ty set his beer on the workbench and stepped to the door Masyn escaped through to yell, “Masyn, get your ass out here.”

“Jesus, Ty. Leave her alone.” I should have kept my damn mouth shut. I wasn’t any better than Beau.

“Nah, fuck that. She doesn’t need to be anywhere near that cum stain. And where the hell were you, Lee?”

The door burst open with a fiery Masyn blowing through it just as I said, “Since when is it my job to babysit?”

Without turning away from his sister, he answered me. “Kindergarten. Own it.” Then he lit into her. “Why the hell would you be alone with Toby fucking Hayes—ever?”

She glared at me—not Beau—assuming I’d given Ty the insider information. I had, but that was beside the point. Beau could do no wrong. “I hate you, Lee.”

“You do not. You’re just mad that I was with Peyton. Next time one of our friends stands his bride up at the altar, I’ll make sure to keep you around to handle phone calls and deal with nosy guests.”

Beau raised his brow and stated flatly, “I didn’t leave her at the altar.”

“Dude, really?” I questioned, and he shrugged.

“Enough.” Ty’s voice carried without his having to scream. “I asked a question. I want an answer, Masyn. Why the hell were you with Toby Hayes?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, Ty. He followed me to Lee’s and then dropped me off at my house. He never even got out of the truck.” She hated having to admit that in front of me. It should have made me happy, but all it did was tick me off even more.

“Stay away from him. He’s trouble you don’t need to get mixed up with.”

“Whatever, Ty.” She whipped around so fast her hair fanned out behind her, and then stomped inside and slammed the door.

“Are you going to help me or stand there with your dick in your hand?” Ty had a way with words.

“Yeah. Sorry.” I turned back toward the car and listened while Ty explained what he wanted me to do. Really, I was his wrench monkey and nothing more. Working on Masyn’s car gave us an excuse to hang out—he didn’t need my help. He did this kind of thing day in and day out.

Beau pulled up a stool and watched.

“Did you really leave your girl at the church yesterday?” Ty laughed and kept his head under the hood.

“There’s a bit more to it than that, but yes, that was the final result.”

“I gotta give it to ya, Chastain, I didn’t think you had it in you.” Ty never took his focus off what he was doing. He extended his fist, waiting for Beau to reciprocate.

Beau looked confused at first and then like he’d won the lottery and been brought inside the inner circle. I shook my head. He was clueless. He helped form the inner circle because he was closely connected to Masyn.

“She cheat on ya? Women are trifling like that. Can’t trust a damn one of them.” He was full of shit.

Donna doted on his ass like he ran the world, and she was as loyal as a hound—not to mention easy on the eyes, even after two kids.

“Not that I know of.” Beau gave him a brief history with more details about yesterday than the rest combined.

Ty stopped what he was doing when Beau got to the part about the church. I had been there, although I didn’t have a clue what had happened inside the bathroom while I waited in the hall.

“She kept trying to deny it and make me feel like an ass for questioning her when she’d told me she was pregnant. As soon as she started crying, I knew Lee was right. I can’t stand to see a woman cry. That bitch thought she had me by the balls. I held firm and refused to move away from the door until she peed in a cup.”

“I don’t get females. Why not just confess that you’re full of shit instead of taking nine pregnancy tests that will only prove what a liar you are?” Ty leaned against the front of Masyn’s car, waiting to hear the end.

It was too bad Beau didn’t recognize that he had a captive audience, and Ty was the sole ticketholder. Ty liked Beau, but he didn’t know how to relate to him—that didn’t mean he didn’t care about his sister’s best friend.

“Got me. She didn’t move. She watched me dip every single test in that cup. And each one that came back negative only lit my fire even brighter. I took all nine of the negative tests and told her there was one for every person in our families she’d hurt, and I was going to hand them out.”

“Damn, the only decent thing to ever happen at a wedding and I missed it.”

“She followed me down the hall begging me to let her explain.” There was nothing to explain. “Then I left with Masyn, and Lee stayed at the church with Felicity’s sister, Peyton, to make calls and deal with guests who showed up.”

Ty lifted his head at me. “So, Peyton’s the girl Masyn’s been griping about with Donna all morning?”

I shrugged. I didn’t know Masyn discussed Peyton. I did know I wouldn’t get anywhere questioning Ty about his sister. He’d put his fist in my mouth before he gave away any of her secrets.

“Lee left Sadler’s with Peyton last night. Masyn wasn’t happy about it.” Leave it to Beau to fill in the gaps so Ty could form his own opinion.

“She took me home. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Yeah?” Ty wagged his brow.

“Jesus, you’re as bad as Masyn. When she showed up last night, we were swimming. I have no idea what she believes took place, but I can assure you it wasn’t the story she wants to make it out to be.”

Ty appeared disappointed. “So you really didn’t sleep with this chick?”

“Nope.”

“Nothing?” Beau asked.

“I mean, she kissed me when she left.”

Ty exchanged glances with Beau before calling bullshit. “There’s no way you let a hot girl swim around in a bikini in your pool and didn’t initiate anything.”

“Why does everyone think I’m such a manwhore? She kissed me.”

“So you pushed her away, right?” Ty mocked me, and Beau snickered with him—I ought to knock him off the stool and see who was laughing then.

“Basically.”

“Yeah, right after you stuck your tongue down her throat, and she spread her legs.” Ty was married with two kids under the age of three. It would surprise me to find out he wasn’t getting the same kind of attention he had from Donna when they were making out under the bleachers in high school.

“Didn’t happen.”

Ty redirected his attention to the car. “You gonna see her again?”

“She doesn’t even live here. I have no idea if she’s already left town. We didn’t discuss it.” That wasn’t exactly true, but giving these two the actual events would only spur this ridiculous conversation on instead of shutting it down.

“You should give her a call.” Ty never made much sense—not when it came to advice and women.

In one breath, he’d tell me I was responsible for his sister, and in the next, that I needed to dip my stick in any oilcan whose cap I could get off. If he had any inkling of what I dreamed about doing to his sister, he’d draw and quarter me.

“I thought we were here to fix an alternator. Did I miss a memo?” I asked.

“Nah, I’m just fucking with you, Lee. Enjoy this shit while you can. Once you walk down that aisle or bring a kid into the world, the days of freedom are in the past.”

Ty could say what he wanted about freedom and missing the past. There wasn’t a woman on this planet he’d trade Donna for, and those kids were his world. He was a family man and always had been. As a kid, it was his siblings and parents. When he got married, the protective vibe shifted to Donna, although he still kept close tabs on Masyn—not that he needed to. She never did anything other than hang out with me.

When we—and I use that term loosely—finished the alternator and had Masyn’s car running again, I tried to grab Beau and head out. I was afraid to go into the house and set Masyn off, but my stomach was screaming for food.

“You guys stay for lunch.” Ty glanced at his watch. “Early dinner.” It was later than any of us realized.

“I don’t know. Masyn’s pretty ticked, and the only way she’s going to calm down is if I talk to her. That conversation doesn’t need to happen here.” I’d known her long enough to be certain she wouldn’t open up in front of her brother, or anyone else.

Ty clapped me on the shoulder and ushered Beau and me inside. “Then Masyn can go home in her car, which is now running.”

Donna was in the kitchen patting out hamburgers, and Masyn was beside her, working on what appeared to be the makings for potato salad—hard to say with her back to me. There were beans in a casserole dish with strips of bacon lining the top, biscuits on a pan, and corn on the cob wrapped in tinfoil, waiting to go into the oven. It wasn’t a feast for kings, but in Harden, it was a damn-good way to end a weekend.

By the time dinner was ready, we’d all piled out on the back deck to eat with folding lawn chairs and paper plates. Ty lit some timber in the fire pit—nothing like more heat in the heart of June in Georgia. I’d spent more Sundays like this than doing anything else, and it was still one of my favorite things to do. The tension with Masyn died down, and she had even let me hug her from behind when she stood at the sink washing her hands. She hadn’t let go of whatever was on her mind, though. She’d simply set it aside to enjoy the evening and not make a scene in front of Ty, who wouldn’t let that shit go.

Donna stepped out on the porch from the kitchen and handed out bottles of beer, leaving the door open behind her. Just as she handed me one, I heard my phone ring in the kitchen.

I had my plate in my lap, and I tried to get up without dumping it onto the porch. “That’s mine.”

“Sit. I’ll grab it.”

Donna tossed it to me on the third ring. I had a split second to make the decision about answering it—and I made the wrong choice.

“Hello?” I said around a mouthful of food.

“Hey. Are you busy?” Peyton sounded upbeat.

“Just sitting over at Ty’s house eating dinner. What’s up?” Maybe if I played it cool and acted like it was anyone other than Peyton, no one would be the wiser.

“I hope you don’t mind me calling.”

“Nah, not at all.”

“My parents left with my sister this morning. And I got tasked with cleaning up the mess with vendors and guests. You said to let you know if I was going to be around longer, so I thought I’d see if you wanted to hang out this week. My flight doesn’t leave until Friday afternoon. If not, it’s no big deal.”

I avoided making eye contact with anyone, yet I could still feel each gaze intently focused on me. “Yeah, absolutely. I don’t get off until three. Five, maybe?”

“Let me know where. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye.”

I didn’t look up. It was as though the world stopped spinning while that call took place. We were outside in the country, and you could hear a damn pin drop with two toddlers running around a few feet away. I took a bite of my corn, hoping everyone would resume their conversations and forget about me. They did not.

“Who was that, Lee?” Beau was determined to use all of his nine lives in one day, and his mocking tone made me feel like we were back in third grade, except then it was him getting teased, not me.

“Peyton,” I mumbled, and hoped no one understood.

“Oh yeah, you two are going to hang out, huh?”

I glared at him, and Ty snickered beside me. Beau’s eyes danced with amusement. Masyn’s did not. She wasn’t a crier, never had been. When we were nine, she broke her arm jumping off a rope swing. The break was so bad, the bone cut through the skin—not a single tear shed. Now her eyes were tinged with emotion. Before she let anyone witness it, she stood and walked inside. I watched through the glass in the door as she dumped her plate in the trash. Then she grabbed her keys off the counter.

Shit.

“Masyn!” I hollered from the porch. “Fuck. Sorry.” I scrambled over people’s legs and feet to get inside and stop her, spilling food on the porch in the process. “I’ll be right back to clean it up.”

I raced inside and flung the front door open just as she pulled out of the driveway. The sun was setting, and the sky was dusky-dark as I watched her taillights disappear down the road. Instead of grabbing my keys to go after her, I waited to see if she’d turn around. Once she was out of sight, I spun and slammed my fist into the steel front door, breaking open the skin on my knuckles.

“Damn it!” I yelled to no one in particular, although I was quite certain everyone heard me out back. My chest heaved as I took several deep breaths and paced in circles, trying to calm down. I had to go back to the group, but I just wasn’t in the frame of mind to do it yet. It took punching the door again, yanking on my hair, and practicing Lamaze to regain my composure.

Finally, I threw my hands up in defeat and went inside. Even though Donna beat me to it, I snagged some paper towels on my way through the kitchen to clean up the mess I’d made in my hasty exit. “I would’ve gotten that, D.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I know. I don’t mind. Everything okay?”

“Dude, I could have told you how horribly wrong that was going to go.” Beau shook his head and got up to throw his plate away. He didn’t close the door when he stepped inside and called back to Donna, “Another great meal, D. Thank you.” And then he rejoined us with a fresh beer in hand.

“Thanks, Beau. I’m not sure how I’ve survived with you away at school. You really should come home more often.” With that, I snatched the beer from his hand, tossed it back, and guzzled down the cold, burning brew.