Riveted

“I’ve always seen your best and now everyone else can, too. You aren’t trying so hard to hide it anymore.” Dolly started barking and prancing around the door as someone used a heavy hand to pound on the wooden surface. “Hey, I have to go, someone is at the door.” I pulled on a long T-shirt that had a fox on it and the words “No Fox Given” scrawled around it and a pair of yoga shorts and willed my still-rubbery legs to find some strength.

“What? It’s after midnight there, why is someone at your door this late?” I smiled as all his alpha protective instincts fired up. He wasn’t around to keep an eye on me and he hated it. Something I knew for a fact since Rome had been hovering like a mother hen. I finally asked him to back off and he sheepishly shrugged and told me when a brother in arms asked you to keep an eye on his girl when he couldn’t that’s what you did. Then he hugged me until I thought my ribs were going to crack and told me that there was no one that was ever going to be able to replace me. I knew he meant I would leave a void in more than just the bar and it made me want to cry.

“I don’t know, but if you quit barking at me I’ll go find out.” I had a pretty good idea who it was as lately both my sister and Wheeler had the annoying habit of popping by when they weren’t expected, each to bitch about the other and the tension their split had caused in the family and between their friends. Canceling the wedding should have been the end of it but it turned out when you broke up with someone you had been with for so long untangling the ties that bound your lives together was quite a tricky feat.

“Don’t open the door until you know who it is.” He snapped the order at me over my sigh.

I petted Dolly on the head and shushed her and drily replied, “I can adult, Church.” I looked through the peephole and wasn’t all that surprised to see a familiar tattooed form on the other side. “It’s Wheeler. I love you and I’ll call you tomorrow.”

He grunted. “I love you, too, and tomorrow we FaceTime.”

“Goodie.” I made a smacking kiss noise and hung up the call as I pulled open the door. Dolly did her typical overenthusiastic greeting but Wheeler walked in and immediately launched into a tirade without even acknowledging the poor pooch.

“Did you know? Did Kallie tell you? And if you did know how could you not tell me? This is getting insane, Dixie.”

He ripped off the red ball cap he had on his head and ran his hands through his hair. His blue eyes were alight with fire and there was an angry flush staining his neck beneath the ink that lived there. I’d never seen him this keyed up before and I couldn’t believe this was his reaction to finding out that Kallie was a lesbian or at least curious enough about the same sex to be bisexual.

I closed the door and leaned my back against it. I held up a hand in front of me and gave him a pointed look. “First of all it’s not my place to share news like that with anyone. It’s Kallie’s life and she’s the one that has to be held accountable for her choices. This isn’t the end of the world, Wheeler.”

He threw his hands up in the air and let them fall. “How can you say that? This changes everything, and it’s not just her choices at play here.”

I scowled at him and crossed my arms over my chest, starting to get a little defensive on my sister’s behalf. “Sometimes things happen. They hurt the people we care about, but we can’t control them. You can’t be mad at her for being who she is.”

“I’m furious with her for keeping this from me.”

I sighed and walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. “She hasn’t told anyone. I think she’s scared. Realizing that you’ve been wrong about your sexual identity your entire life has to be terrifying. I’m sure she never intended to hurt you.”

His pale eyes widened at the same time his eyebrows snapped down. His mouth opened and then shut like he was a fish out of water. “What are you talking about?”

His voice was sharp and it startled me, so I took a step back. “Uh … the fact that Kallie was cheating on you with a woman, didn’t she finally tell you the truth?” I couldn’t imagine what else would have him so riled up.

He let out a whoosh of air and put his hands on his knees as he started to laugh almost hysterically. This went on for a solid five minutes before I put a hand on his back and said his name questioningly.

“That’s not what you were so worked up about?” I frowned at him in confusion.

He slapped the ball cap back on his head and his jaw clenched as his back teeth clicked together. “No, that’s not what I was upset about, but at least now I know that I won’t have to question whether or not the baby is mine.”

“Baby?” The word whispered out and I put a shaking hand to my lips. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

He shook his head and lifted both his hands to drag them over his face. “Nope. She showed up at the house tonight to get the rest of her stuff with a positive pregnancy test. It wasn’t a conversation that went well.”

“I can’t believe this.” I really couldn’t.

“You and me both.” He eyed me speculatively. “Are you really going to leave me here to wade through this mess on my own? Your parents aren’t talking to me and apparently Kallie has more than one secret she’s holding on to.”

I gave him a lopsided smile and nodded. “I’m really going. I’ve finally got my own happy and I’m gonna hold on to it.”