Love Unexpected (Navy Love Series Book 2) (7 page)

I'm surprised when Tess comes to stand in front of me and places a kiss to my cheek.

“Hey, Bug,” she quietly says.

“Hey, T,” I whisper in response.

“I know we have a lot to talk about, but I just want to start off by saying that I'm sorry.”

“I'm sorry too.”

I’m unable to stop the apology from spilling from my lips. Do I think Tess is entitled to one? Not really, but I can’t help it. I want to keep the peace, and if saying
I’m sorry
will help do that, then so be it.

“I shouldn’t have said the hurtful things I said to you, especially regarding the babies.” She brushes her hair out of her face. “I really shouldn’t have make those types of threats; I blame a lot of my irrational shit on these crazy hormones.”

With that, she pulls me in for one of her hugs as well and whispers in my ear, “Olive you, Bug.”

“Olive you too,” I say with watery eyes.

When we were kids, I had a stutter. I always said “olive you” instead of “I love you”. While most young kids laughed or questioned my speech, my big sister just went with it. Olive you became our special thing. Eventually, our whole family picked it up, but it’s stuck with the two of us.

You never realize how important someone is in your daily life until they aren't in it anymore. I knew Tess and I would eventually make up, but since moving to Norfolk, she's become my lifeline in many aspects. I talked to her daily before she left for deployment and since she’s been back.

It’s been a little over two weeks since the wedding and, other than the argument, not speaking has taken a toll on me.

Like every little girl does, I value and somewhat idolize my older sister. I wanted to be like Tess growing up, and after I realized just how different we were and that wasn't possible, I sought her approval in things I did. I knew I could never be as courageous or outgoing as she was or brave and enlist like she did, but I wanted her to be proud of my decisions as well. She is part of what’s kept me striving throughout school. She always congratulated me on acing a test after she’d quiz me the night before. And with my dancing, she was my biggest supporter.

I've never seen her disappointed in me before this. I'm hoping to rectify it now and never see that disappointment directed at me or one of my choices again.

We all sit and begin eating. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this lunch is very civil, so different from the last time we sat down together. Tessa is making eye contact and speaking
to
me not
at
me this time. There is still a twinge of bitterness to her; she isn’t nearly as friendly toward me as she normally is, but at least this meeting is going better than our last sit-down.

Pleasantries are made between the three of us: Tessa’s pregnancy and her last appointment are covered, how my classes are going, and Jo informs us of new things happening at the squadron she and Tessa used to share. The deployment my sister was sent home from early is now home and they are gearing up for another one to go out shortly after the holidays.

Then the topic turns to the intense stuff. I will say that the easy, light conversations did manage to calm my nerves a bit before we got to this one.

Jo is first to start off.

“Now, I know you are sisters and this is technically between you two, so I'm gonna leave you to it.” She points to Tessa and addressed her. “However, I'm not going to let you bad mouth one of our closest friends because you're upset. And I'm not going to let
you
,” she arches an eyebrow and points to me, “cower down because your big sister doesn't approve of choices you made.”

Both of us nod our heads in agreement.

Leave it to Jo to not sugarcoat it.

“Okay, now that we got that settled, Tegan, why don't you start by filling Tess in on what exactly went down with you and Reed.”

Here we go.

“So Reed and I had a little fling for a while.”

“You wanna elaborate on that?” Jo prods.

“Yeah, like details. How long did this go on? When did it start? Why the hell didn't you tell me?” Tessa chimes in.

I knew she would want all the details. And just as I suspected, Jo is giddy right now—she hasn’t heard all of them either.

This is probably why she volunteered to
host
this lunch, the asshole.

“Actually, it started that first night we met at the bar.”

“You mean that night I introduced you to all my friends?” I nod. “You went home with Reed that night?” I nod again. “Oh my God,
Tegan
.”

“He did try to stop it from happening,” I try plead my case.

“Damn. I remember him talking at work the next day about meeting a girl that night,” Jo says more to herself than to us.

Tessa glares at her friend. “Anyway, what do you mean he tried to stop it?”

“Well, if you remember, you,” I nod toward my sister, “were quick to leave after you teased my brother-in-law into a frenzy. And Reed had volunteered to take me home. After sitting with Jo for another ten minutes or so, and countless more shots, I was inebriated and on the way home I started messing around with him, he kept pushing my hands away, telling me that he couldn’t do this with Tessa’s little sister. Something about me being off-limits.”

Hearing their mischievous snickers, I break out in a laugh. It’s nice—this talk is going much smoother than I anticipated. I really thought Tessa would come in guns blazing, itching for a huge argument.

“Tess made that threat clear to everyone in the group before you ever moved up here, Bug,” Jo teases. “His ass knew better than to start something with you, and he definitely knew it would piss Tess off.”

“He told me before we left the bar that we were staying the night together because he knew you were going home with Hunter and thanks to this one,” I jab a finger in Jo’s direction, “I would be hugging the toilet at some point.”

“I
knew
I shouldn’t have left you there. I even told Hunter that I didn’t want Reed to take you home that night. Something in the way he looked at you just gave me a tingling feeling that he liked you. Apparently, I was right.” Tessa’s lips are slightly turned up.

My smile dies; Reed didn’t like me, he liked my
body
. My mind replays those couple of months we spend together. We laughed and joked, we spent time together outside of the bedroom. We held each other; there was intimacy, it wasn’t just sex. Or at least, I hadn’t thought it was, but he was persistent that that was all we’d ever be.

“Soo….” I’m pulled from my thoughts at the sound of Tessa bringing me back to the present.

“So, we slept together that night. The next morning I woke up with a ton of regrets. He quickly convinced me that I had nothing to be ashamed of. We were two consenting adults and you had no right to be upset over it.”

I can see the anger rolling off my sister. If there’s one thing to know about Tess, it’s that she’s fiercely overprotective of me.

“Once he convinced me that what happened was okay, he then made the suggestion that we do it again. And because I didn’t want you to be upset with either of us, and he didn’t ‘do’ relationships, we decided to keep it between the two of us,” I hurriedly spit out.

“So, what made you guys call it quits?” asks Jo.

I think back to the day he decided we needed to end it.

He came to my apartment, and I immediately knew something was off with him. Reed likes to think he’s guarded and mysterious, which he is, but his emotions are easy to read on his face. That day I could tell by the look in his eyes that whatever he had to tell me was going to change the dynamics of our relationship severely.

I don’t know whether to be hurt or pleased that he took me one more time before ending it. For him it was a goodbye fuck, but to me it was more than that, we made
love
that night.

I’m sure he would deny that, but it was. That last time we were together was the gentlest and most tender sex I ever experienced with Reed. He’s more of a rough, fast-paced kind of guy. Very Alpha.

Had I not noticed the haunting look in his eyes, I would have thought perhaps our relationship was changing, evolving into just that—a relationship. What a fantasy that would have been.

“Tegan…”

“Hmm, sorry. I zoned out there for a second, what’s up?”

Tessa clears her throat. “Jo asked what made y’all quit sleeping together?”

“You.”

Her shocked expression calls for elaboration.

“He ended whatever ‘it’ was, three days before you came home early, Tess. He knew you wouldn’t approve, and he knew I was getting attached.” My tears build up in my eyes. “You returning was the perfect excuse to take the blame off himself.”

Both women jump up to comfort me.

“I’m sorry,” I finally say once I’ve composed myself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break down.”

“Hey, it’s okay to be upset by this, Bug, you got your heart broken,” Jo says. She seems like she’s having a hard time with all of this.

I can only assume she knows my feelings all too well.

Tessa scoffs at Jo’s sincere concern.

“He’s an ass, Tegan. And you deserve better than him. If he can’t stand up to me in order to be with you, do you really think he’s the man of your dreams?” my sister asks.

“You don’t know how it feels to have your heart broken,
Tess
,” Jo damn near shouts. “I’ve been there. I know how hard it is to let go. How badly you want the person to return your love. How even though you know you’ll end up hurt in the end, you still try. You still keep that hope that one day that person will love you back.” She then turns her attention to me. “If you think he’s worth it, if you truly believe that you two could have something special, then go after it, Tegan. Don’t let it slip away out of fear.”

With that, she walks out of the room, leaving both of us speechless.

Tess finally interrupts the silence.

“Do you love him, Tegan?”

I whip my head back and forth. The lie coming out easier than I thought it would.

“No, Tess. You know my relationship history, I’m going through my first heartbreak.”

I didn’t date very much in high school. I didn’t keep steady boyfriends. An occasional date here, a series of dates there. But nothing that resembled a relationship.

“I think she’s just taking her whirlwind relationship problems out on everyone and projecting her feelings about a certain someone onto you.” I nod in agreement. “Alright, well I need to get home. I’m glad we talked, though. Olive you, Bug.”

“Olive you too.”

She grabs her purse and leaves. I wait a few minutes then trek down the hall to Jo’s room. While I agreed with my sister, I don’t believe Jo is projecting her feelings onto me. She’s sympathetic to me because she knows what I’m going through.

We both care about guys who aren’t willing to trust us with their hearts.

Reed

Drinking my morning coffee, I notice that it is a beautiful fall day outside. October can be tricky in Virginia; sometimes it’s freezing cold while others it’s sunny with a light breeze, like today. Perfect riding weather. Knowing my riding days are numbered with the frigid winter months coming, I decide to use this day to my advantage.

After a shower and dressing appropriately, I climb onto my Harley and head toward the one guy I know will give me advice: Marshall.

I pull up at his house and notice a Silverado parked in the driveway behind his Ford. Why does it look familiar? As I continue up the sideway to the front door, I mentally run through all of our friends’ vehicles. I knock and I keep ticking names off the list. Just as the door creaks open and Marsh appears in nothing but a pair of tight briefs, I realize who, or more
what
, that truck belongs to—Marsh’s secretive little fuck buddy.

Our eyes both widen at the same time; we both know what I’ve stumbled on. He pushes to close the door, but I wedge my foot inside keeping him from being able to lock me out. We stand there both assessing each other.

I really couldn’t care less who Marsh is fucking. To be completely honest, his sex life is the one I’m least interested in out of all of our friends. And yes, because he’s gay. Do your thing, man, but I don’t need or want the details of it. But my sex life has become the talk of the group, so I could stand to put someone else’s on the chopping block, and poor Marsh is getting the short end of the stick.

“Reed, we’re not doing this shit.” His voice is still rough and grainy from just waking up.

“Oh come on, man. I’m just curious.” I try looking around him with the hope that his
friend
came out of the bedroom.

“You got a reason to be here this fucking early in the morning?”

My head snaps to attention.