Our Love Unhinged (Reluctant Hearts Book 4) (5 page)

Paige grabs me by the shoulders and turns me to face her, then shakes me hard enough to rattle my teeth. “We’re gonna be aunts again!
Huzzah
!” she says with a fist pump.

And just like that, everything I’ve spent the night blocking out comes rushing back full force, along with the twenty-seven drinks I’ve downed. “I think . . .” I try to swallow the rush of saliva in my mouth, but it’s no use. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

“
J
esus fucking Christ
, it’s hotter than the devil’s ballsack out here.” Jase hefts a cooler filled with enough alcohol to last us a week instead of the single night we’re camping. “Whose bright idea was this? It’s total bullshit. I want strippers.”

I roll my eyes as I lug our tents and a couple backpacks. “I’ll be sure to let my sister know that.” After two decades of being friends with Jase, I know when he’s trying to get a rise out of me, and this is one of those times.

“You’re like a goddamn child, you know that?” Adam passes Jase and manages to shove him, even while carrying the rest of our gear. “We’re not hiking three miles, for fuck’s sake. You do know we’re about forty yards behind the store, right?”

Reid Sporting Goods, Adam’s family’s store—well,
Adam’s
store—sits on the perfect property for a chill night of camping for my bachelor party. The location is within walking distance to a lake for kayaking or canoeing, a hiking trail, and enough climbing opportunities to make even a well-versed climber like Adam happy. We definitely won’t be bored, despite Jase’s bitching.

Once we reach the place Adam picked out for tonight, Jase sets down the cooler, lifts the lid, and pulls out a bottle of beer without offering one to Adam or me. After closing the lid, he uses it as a seat and pops the cap off his beer before taking a big swallow. “What I know is we should be evening the playing field, is all. Those girls are going to see dick tonight, and it’s not going to be ours.”

Not taking the bait, I put down the tents and backpacks in the small clearing. “Winter would hate that.”

“Unfortunately, that’s exactly why Paige would make her go,” Adam says, dropping his gear next to mine. He gives me a shrug, like he doesn’t care that our girls are going to be inches from some other dude’s junk, before knocking Jase off the cooler to pull out beers for both of us.

Well, fuck. Jase blows more smoke out of his ass than a train, but when Adam says it, I listen. And now that he’s put it that way, it
is
something Paige would do. With a frown, I grab my phone from my pocket to text Winter, but protests come at me from both sides.

“Put the fucking phone away, Maxwell,” Adam says, stern but calm.

Jase just makes some sort of war call and reaches out to hit the phone from my hands. It lands in the grass between me and Adam, who doesn’t even blink as he reaches down to pick it up and then pockets it. “You’ll get it back when you can start acting like an irresponsible adult.”

“Fuck you guys,” I say, unloading one of the canvas chairs Adam hauled in and taking a seat.

“Speaking of being a boring middle-aged dude—I mean responsible adult,” Jase says, “how’re you holding up being here and having fun instead of being stuck at the restaurant tonight?”

“I’m not
stuck
at the restaurant.” I shake my head. Neither of them gets it. They both enjoy their jobs, but even Adam, having done a total one-eighty from the accounting job he went to school for to now running the sporting goods store and loving every minute of it, doesn’t have the same devotion for what he does as I do. Being a chef isn’t just a job to me. It’s my
passion
. Even when I’m not at the restaurant, I’m thinking of what new dishes I can create and incorporate into the menu, constantly trying them out on Winter. I live and breathe my profession, and that’s never going to change.

“You might not be stuck, man, but you’re there all the time,” Adam says as he pulls out his own chair and takes a seat.

“So?”

“So . . . you’re getting married. You think Winter’s going to be okay being the second woman?”

“What the fuck are you talking about? I’d never cheat on her.”

Adam tips his bottle in my direction. “But you kind of are. The restaurant might as well be your mistress.”

I narrow my eyes at Adam, then glance at Jase, looking for some support from him, but he just shrugs and says, “He’s right.”

My body goes tight, my shoulders tensing. “Has Winter said something? Did the girls tell you that?”

“Nah, man, I haven’t heard anything,” Jase says.

Adam confirms the same with a shake of his head. I blow out a breath and relax until he says, “But that doesn’t mean she’s not thinking it.”

These past few months have been a blur, between the wedding planning and work shit. I’ve been training a new sous chef since the last one got promoted to head chef at another of John’s restaurants. I’ve been putting in a lot of hours there, but that’s not anything new.

But maybe that’s the problem?

It’s never been a secret that I like to be in control of things—hell, it’s one of the hardest lessons I had to learn when I first moved to Chicago without Tessa and Haley, and while Winter was traveling all over the country. That need for control extends to my kitchen, too, and Winter knows it. She said as much the first day we went cake tasting. Maybe that was her way of saying she needs more attention from me? That she’s not happy anymore?

The beer in my stomach turns to lead as I let that sink in. Jesus, could she just be going through the motions, too scared to say anything about how unhappy she is?

“Fuck,” Jase says. “Way to go, Adam, now he’s freaking out.”

“You’re the one who brought it up, asshole.” Adam tosses his bottle cap at Jase, who swats it away with a flick of his hand.

“Give me my phone,” I say, reaching in Adam’s direction.

“Nope,” they both say at once.

“Give me my fucking phone. I need to call Winter.”

“You sure don’t.” Jase pulls out his phone and glances at it. “They’re coming by later, anyway. Maybe you can use this time to pull yourself together, because you look like a fucking train wreck, man. Pretend like you have a pair of balls in those shorts.”

I flip him off, but don’t say anything. I can’t, really. All I can focus on are the things Winter has said over the past few months. But more than that, it’s the things she
hasn’t
said. Her hesitant touches, the way she’s withdrawn into herself.

Has that all been because of me and my fucking job? Yes, I love it, and I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. Cooking is my passion, but Winter is my
life
. I could take or leave everything else as long as she’s by my side.

I just need to make sure she knows it.

* * *

A
dam and Jase
tried their hardest to keep my mind off things, forcing us to do everything from hiking to kayaking, but nothing helped. Even when Jase tried to distract me with tales of what he planned to do to my sister tonight, I wasn’t bothered. I was too focused on Winter. When that didn’t pull a reaction out of me, Adam declared it a lost cause and led us back to the camping site, then proceeded to ply me with alcohol.

Finally, after what seems like a week, I hear a car pull up, followed by loud and unmistakably drunk voices. I don’t wait to see if Adam and Jase are following me before I’m out of my chair and walking up the hill toward the parking lot.

“Sounds like we should’ve pulled out the hard stuff instead of the beer,” Jase says behind me. “They’re about five rounds ahead of us.”

“Fine by me,” Adam says. “I’m damn glad for those five extra rounds, because that means Paige is going to rip my pants off in about three minutes.”

Before Jase can say anything about Tessa doing the same to him, I speed up to get to Winter faster. I need to see her . . . talk to her. Ask her if she’s feeling what I fear she is—that she’s second place in my life—and I don’t want to wait until tomorrow. I don’t want to wait another
minute
. Hopefully she isn’t as drunk as the commotion indicates. But when the car comes into view in the parking lot, and three girls stumble out of it—or two very drunk girls and one sober Tessa trying to corral them—that hope is dashed.

“Can you guys come get your women?” Tessa tries to support Winter while holding Paige back by the material of her shirt, but she breaks free and is halfway to us before Tessa can blink.

“Looks like someone had fun,” Adam says as he goes straight to Paige. “You feeling okay, cuddle lump?”

Paige throws her head back and laughs, then falls into Adam and whispers something to him. Except it’s not a whisper at all, and I cringe, scrubbing a hand over my face. I definitely could’ve done without hearing what she plans to do in their tent tonight. Before Paige can say anything else totally inappropriate, Adam lifts her into a fireman’s carry and hauls her off just as I get to Winter. She’s slumped against Tessa’s side, her eyelids droopy, but a smile sweeps over her face when she sees me. That’s good, right?

“Hey, baby,” I say, wrapping my arm around her and letting her lean against me.

“You’re so pretty,” she says—or slurs, anyway—as she reaches up and pets my face.

I glance at Tessa with eyebrows raised. “How many drinks did you let her have?”

“
Let
her? Have you met your fiancée? I tried to cut her off at five, but she kept sneaking off to the bar and ordering more.” She leans into Jase’s side as he presses a kiss to her head. Her features are pinched, and that only makes me
worry more. Did Winter say something to her and Paige while they were out?

“What is it?” I ask.

Before she can answer, Winter slumps farther into me, her legs nearly giving out. Without thinking twice, I slip my arm under her knees and lift her to my chest. She sighs against my neck and presses a kiss there as she wraps her arms tighter around me.

“Tess?” I ask again.

She glances at Jase, then Winter, whose eyes are now closed. “She got kind of upset tonight. I think it started earlier when you guys were watching Haley and then tonight . . .” She looks over at Jase, then reaches for his hand before looking back at me. “I’m not sure how much she’ll remember, but we should talk in the morning.”

Fuck
. My heart free falls to my stomach, and I can’t seem to swallow the gravel stuck in my throat. I manage a nod and turn, bringing Winter toward our tent while Jase and Tessa follow before veering off for theirs. Squeals and laughter come from Adam and Paige’s tent, but I block them out as I get Winter inside ours.

Once we’re zipped up in our small, two-person tent, I set her down on the sleeping bag I laid out earlier. She flops back with a sigh, wiggling to get comfortable. I slip her shoes from her feet, rubbing my thumbs into her arches. She moans, pushing her feet farther into my hands, but doesn’t say anything. The dress Paige laid out for Winter earlier is even more minuscule now that it’s on her body, the hem creeping up far enough to reveal her panties. I go to my bag and rummage around until I find one of my T-shirts.

“Baby,” I say, leaning over her and brushing the hair back from her face. “You want to change into this?”

Her eyelids flutter open and she sits up, hands straight in the air. With a chuckle, I help her out of her dress before slipping my shirt over her head. Once she’s covered, she lies back down, gripping the front of my shirt to pull me with her. As I lie down at her side, she snuggles into me, pressing her nose into my neck, her leg thrown over mine.

“Missed you,” she says through a yawn.

She’s awake, but not by much. She’s going to pass out any second, so I don’t want to get to the crux of what I need to know only to have her fall asleep mid-convo. Instead, I ask, “Did you have fun?”

“Mhmm . . . till Tessa broke my thunder,” she mumbles.

Broke her thunder? What the fuck does that mean? “What’d Tess do?”

Silence greets me, and I glance down. Winter’s eyes are closed, deep breaths passing through parted lips. Her arm is heavy against my chest, telling me she’s well and truly out for the night. Meanwhile, I’m rigid as hell, a hundred possibilities flying through my head at what Tessa’s—and now Winter’s—comments mean. Ten minutes later, I can’t take it anymore and slip out from under Winter, heading straight for Jase and Tess’s tent. It’s quiet, just some unintelligible murmurs drifting out. No moans, thank Christ.

“You two better be dressed, because I need to talk.”

“
Knew
that sad bastard wouldn’t let me get lucky tonight,” Jase mumbles as Tessa laughs. She undoes the zipper and then steps out, Jase behind her.