“Guys who don’t want to get pushed don’t, Lucky. It’s in their DNA. Is he… is he good to you?”
“He’s perfect,” I whispered. “I just… I don’t know how to enjoy it while I have it, you know?”
I felt Aiden drop his head on top of mine. “Don’t settle, Lucky. If you want this guy and you believe he’s truly worthy of you, then you push until it feels like your fucking arms are going to fall off, do you hear me? Trust me when I say guys like that get too comfortable because it feels like the only thing that’s safe in our lives. It takes someone to knock us on our ass to make us realize that being down for the count doesn’t mean we’re out of the fight.”
I didn’t point out to Aiden that he’d begun talking in first person.
Aiden gave me another squeeze. “And you, my boy, are worth getting up for. Each and every time.”
I nodded and was about to thank him when my phone began to beep. One text message after another started lighting up the screen. Joy exploded in my chest when I saw that they were from Zach. I went to open the first one but more and more continued to come in. There were almost a dozen in all.
I scrolled through the notifications and smiled when I saw phrases like, “messages not getting through” and “fucking bad reception.”
“Never be too afraid to push,” Aiden said softly. I knew he could see the message notifications, but I hadn’t put Zach’s name in the contact information, so only a phone number was showing up.
Aiden stood up but when he said, “Oh hey, Zach,” I froze. I turned slowly and saw Zach standing less than twenty feet from us.
And he did not look happy.
He managed to put a smile on his face as Aiden approached him and shook his hand. I wondered if Aiden noticed how stiff Zach was. If he did, he didn’t show it.
The men made small talk as I climbed to my feet. My tongue felt like it was in knots and all I really wanted to do was throw myself into Zach’s arms. When Zach’s gaze shifted to me, I managed to say, “You’re back.”
“I’m back,” he said stiffly.
I didn’t miss the way Aiden was looking between me and Zach. I knew I needed to keep my cool.
“Aiden and I were just catching up,” I said.
“Yeah, I saw,” Zach said. His eyes shifted back to Aiden. “How’s the husband?” he asked.
Understanding dawned as Zach practically stood toe to toe with Aiden. I was so shocked at first, I couldn’t move.
“Currently passed out in our bed,” Aiden said snidely. “Figured it was a good time to catch up with old friends.” Then the man actually returned to my side and put his arm around me.
“Right,” Zach snapped, then he turned on his heel.
“Are you ready to go, Zach?” I called as I stepped away from Aiden and hurried to Zach. I knew I wasn’t allowed to touch him in public, so I got as close to him as I could considering our location and said, “Yeah, you wanted to go to the swimming hole, right? The one I told you about? You said you’d never been behind a waterfall and you really wanted to see it…”
I knew I was blabbering, but I was desperate for Zach to hear me.
“Yeah, right,” Zach said. He was still clearly angry but he hadn’t walked off, so that was something.
“Okay,” I said in relief. “Let’s go then,” I added quickly.
“Lucky, sweetie, are you forgetting something?” Aiden called.
“No,” I barked. I’d absolutely murder the man if he tried to stop me. Chances were he’d already figured out Zach was the guy I’d been talking about. Aiden smiled when I snapped at him, then motioned to the stroller next to him.
“Oh crap,” I said. I turned to Zach and added, “Oh man, I’m sorry, I’m babysitting. I can’t—”
“You two kids go on and have fun,” Aiden interjected. He waved us off as he sat down on the picnic bench. “Uncle Aiden has some life lessons to teach the young’uns.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I could—”
“Lucky, darling, don’t push me on this,” Aiden said as he side-eyed me.
I snapped my mouth shut and hurriedly grabbed Zach’s arm to lead him away.
Chapter 29
Zach
After Aiden turned around, I realized I’d been irrationally angry over… Lucky spending time with his uncle.
In addition to the fact that I shouldn’t have been angry over Lucky spending time with anyone, I was especially embarrassed that I’d actually felt jealous of a man who was essentially Lucky’s family. Something was seriously wrong with me. I had no business being jealous of anyone when it came to the young man leading me back to my truck. Jealousy was for lovers, boyfriends; it wasn’t for fuck buddies or sex tutors or whatever the fuck we were.