Page 14 of Burly and Obsessed

Cody leans in from across the table. “So what happened with Andrea?”

Five faces turn toward me expectantly. The beer suddenly tastes flat.

“Nothing happened.”

“Bullshit.” Hank’s voice is matter-of-fact. “Something happened.”

The need to unload this weight becomes overwhelming. These men are the closest thing to family I’ve had since the Teams. If anyone might understand, it’s them.

“We kissed,” I admit, staring at the tabletop. “When we were picking up the flowers.”

Low whistles and appreciative murmurs ripple around the table.

“About damn time,” Cody says.

“Then what?” Damien presses. “Because you don’t look like a man who just kissed the woman he’s been mooning over for three years.”

I take another drink. “It was perfect. Then Jax called.”

“And?” Hank prompts when I fall silent.

“I joked that we’d have to hide it from him.” The words sound even worse out loud.

The collective wince from my crewmates is immediate. Rowan actually groans.

“Dude,” he says, shaking his head. “You basically told her she’s your dirty secret.”

My stomach lurches. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Doesn’t matter what you meant.” Damien’s voice is blunt. “Matters what sheheard. Jax has told you she’s off limits, so you go and kiss her and tell her you’re not man enough to stand up to Jax?” Damien shakes his head like I’m a fucking idiot for not realizing that. Truth is, clearly I am that idiot.

“Andrea needs someone who stands up for her,” Hank adds. “Not someone who lets her brother scare them away. He’s been doing that her whole life. Doesn’t take a genius to understand she needs a man who isn’t scared of her brother.”

The truth of his words hits like a physical blow. I drop my head into my hands as the realization crashes over me. Everything clicks into place, and I want to beat my head against the wall. How could I have been so fucking stupid?

“She won’t even look at me now.”

“Can you blame her?” Cody asks. “Three years of waiting for you to grow a pair, then you finally kiss her only to tell her you haven’t grown a pair? Dude.”

I’m saved from responding by commotion at the door. Jax enters with Waylon and his crew, and the atmosphere immediately shifts, the conversation turning to congratulations.

I force a smile, raising my glass in the appropriate toast. But watching Jax—confident, happy, surrounded by people who respect him—stirs something ugly inside me. Envy mixed with self-loathing.Who is he to stop me from pursuing the one woman I know would make me happy forever?

This should be my future, too. A woman I love. Friends celebrating us. Instead, I’m drinking to the happiness of the man who constantly cockblocks me.

I signal the redheaded bartender for something stronger and gulp the whiskey the moment she puts the glass in front of me.

One drink becomes two. Two becomes four. By the time the pool games start, my father’s voice rings clearer than the bar noise around me.

You always choose impulse over orders, son. That’s why you washed out.

Same pattern, different day. I broke formation to save a translator. I kissed Andrea despite Jax’s rule. I always think I know better, and it always blows up in my face.

You won’t amount to anything because you’re a joker who fucks everything up.

The shot glass trembles slightly in my hand as I order another. My vision blurs at the edges, but the pain remains razor-sharp.

“Ease up there, sailor.” Jax’s voice startles me as he slides onto the stool beside me. “You’re hitting it pretty hard.”

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