The Off Limits Rule (It Happened in Nashville 1)

Lucy squeezes my bicep, and it gives me the courage I need. “I spent the night here last night.”

Drew’s nostrils flare, and he swallows dangerously. I want him to set down that mug. I think it’s about to shatter under his white-knuckled grip. “You slept with my sister?”

Thankfully, he turns and sets down the mug and coffee pot—except now his hands are free to strangle me.

“Not in the way you’re suggesting, but I will sleep with your sister in the way you’re suggesting at some point.”

Lucy’s fingers bite into my arm. “Not helpful,” she hisses at me.

“I told you to stay away from her,” Drew says, his voice somehow getting closer even though he’s staying put.

Lucy pushes around me this time. “Okay, enough of your macho talk. I’m my own woman, Drew, and you can’t tell men to stay away from me like you own me.”

“Luce.” My tone is soft and pleading, begging her to let me deal with Drew. Her sharp blue eyes cut to me and melt. She gives me a single nod before I turn my gaze back to my friend.

“What was that?” He has crazy eyes bouncing between me and Lucy, and he wiggles his finger between us. “That little silent communication. What was that? Because to me, that looked an awful lot like two people who have been talking about something for a long time.”

I nod. “That’s exactly what it was. Look, I’m sorry I went behind your back, and I tried as hard as I could to not see her, but—”

“But you did what Cooper does best and did exactly what you wanted.”

“Drew!” Lucy says in a warning.

I point at Drew. “That—why do you say stuff like that about me? Dude, you’ve known me one year. You’ve barely scratched the surface of who I am, and yet, you’re acting like you’ve known me my whole life. Why did you just shut me down when I first approached you about Lucy? We could have talked. I could have told you I went through a really hard breakup before I moved here, had a long-term, serious relationship and wanted her to marry me. I have a whole life I lived before I met you, but for some reason, you’ve been content to just know me in the now and let that be enough.”

Drew isn’t swayed. He folds his arms like a defiant child. I think he’ll stomp a foot next. “I do know you. I lived with you, remember? I saw the parade of women you brought through here—”

“Hardly a parade, okay? Let’s be accurate with our insults.”

“Don’t be funny with me right now. I am not laughing.”

“I’m not trying to be funny, Drew. I’m trying to get you to see that I’m not the guy you have built up in your head. Yeah, I dated around a lot, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want something more serious.”

Drew scoffs with a scary smile. “Bull. You may think you’ve changed and want something stable, but Lucy doesn’t get to be your test subject. She and Levi deserve the best—not to be your next trial to see if yo

u can be a family man or not.”

Maybe a month ago, I would have believed him. Because here’s the thing about people you admire speaking into your life: sometimes you trust their opinion of yourself more than your own. But just because they say it, doesn’t make it true, and I’m done letting him tell me who I am.

“You’re wrong, and I’m asking you to try to see me differently.”

Drew scrapes his hand across his jaw and shakes his head. I look to Lucy, and she must see the weakness behind my armor, because she smiles and comes to wrap her arm around my middle, burrowing up under my arm. Every touch from her feels like home, and it gives me courage to push forward.

“I love your sister, Drew, and I love your nephew. I know this all comes as a shock because you haven’t been around to see our time together, but—”

“Enough.” Drew holds up a hand and looks between Lucy and me with an expression of disgust that I don’t feel is warranted. “I don’t support this, and I’m pissed that you did this behind my back.”

“Well, I could say the same to you,” Lucy says to Drew, a wobble in her voice that cuts me.

He shakes his head slowly at her. “You’re making a bad choice again.” Lucy sucks in a sharp breath through her nose, and I know she’s trying not to cry. I pull her in closer. “And you…I have nothing left to say to you.” Drew’s feet pound the floor as he storms past us, knocking into my shoulder as he yanks his keys off the counter and leaves the kitchen. A second later, the front door slams behind him, making both my shoulders and Lucy’s jump.

We both stand frozen, staring at the spot where Drew just stood, holding on to each other, speechless. My thumb glides slowly up and down her arm, and her fingers squeeze my hip. I know Drew isn’t right about me. I know he isn’t right about Lucy making a bad choice. And yet…his words burrow under my skin and tell me maybe I’m the one who’s wrong. Maybe he sees some glaring fault in me that I can’t.

Maybe Lucy and Levi would be better without me…

“Well, that didn’t go the way I hoped,” I say, finally breaking the silence and trying to drown out my own insecure thoughts.

“You should have just taken me up on making love.”