8. Deacon
DEACON
I startle awake, having fallen back to sleep after spending some of the early morning with Beck. My suit is rumpled, and the sun is streaming in through the curtains at the fancy ski lodge Tara and Cody just got married in.
With a groan, I get up and search the room. For some unfair reason, there’s not a coffee pot anywhere, so, half-asleep, I change into silver basketball shorts and a black T-shirt before I amble down the stairs to the lobby, letting the smell of coffee lead me in the right direction.
On the way, I run into Sean talking to Cody. They’re practically in front of the Keurig machine, so I mutter something about them being in the way, and they move a couple of feet. Still, I hear everything they discuss in hushed tones.
“It’s not me, man,” Sean tells Cody. “She just says that to deflect from the fact that she can’t seem to get pregnant.
I’ve been tracking her cycles and everything, but it never amounts to anything.
I think she might have PCOS, or maybe she’s just infertile.
How can I be expected to stay with someone who can’t bear children?
You want to be a father as much as I do, so you know how much it means. ”
I see red as my skin crawls, and I fiddle longer than I need to with sugar and creamers while continuing to overhear the fucked-up conversation.
“You haven’t even tried IVF. You shouldn’t give up on her for this reason alone,” Cody urges Sean like the good guy he is. “I mean, that’s a ten-year relationship, buddy—an entire decade. You should fight for her. Aspyn’s a good egg who deserves for you to hang in there.”
I can’t hold back any longer, since I know the truth. And I hate the lies Sean’s telling about Beck almost as much as I hate him right now.
“You’re such a lying little fuck,” I seethe at Sean.
“She’s got the all-clear from her doctor.
You’re the problem, man. And if your swimmers could swim, it still wouldn’t matter, because Aspyn won’t put up with a cheater.
She’s too good of a woman to sit at home while you stick your dick in anyone you can reach. ”
I want to spit at him, but this lodge is far too nice for my behavior to devolve that way.
“Oh, you got a problem with me, huh? I thought you might.” Sean’s voice is full of venom as he lifts all five feet ten inches of himself onto tiptoes to make himself look bigger. He’s still five inches shorter than me even with his chest puffed out.
“Oh yes, I have a problem with pathetic, pipsqueak cheaters who lie about their ex’s fertility and make drama the morning after a beautiful wedding. Cody, this has nothing to do with you, man, so step back.”
He obeys just as I wind back my arm and send a right cross straight to his left eye. I don’t hit him hard enough to break bones, but I’m sure he’ll have a black eye, and that’s what I want—for him to remember this moment every day for the next two weeks.
“Ouch! What the fuck, Deacon?” Sean steps back and grasps his eye with a howl.
“Your ex?” Cody’s slow on the uptake.
“She broke up with him the night before your wedding after she found him chatting with a Nurse Q. Did she tell you how wet she was for you, Sean? Is that all it took? A willing, wet pussy to cheat on the best woman you’ll ever have?
The greatest woman you ever let get away?
” I chuckle. “Do us all a favor and get the fuck out of here. We don’t want to upset Tara with your black eye. ”
“Who’s Nurse Q?” Cody demands to know as he gets in Sean’s face. “How could you cheat on Aspyn, Sean? She’s put up with all of your bullshit for ten years!”
Sean shoves Cody out of his way and storms off, still clutching his eye. I wince as I rub my right knuckles with my left hand and wonder if I should have kneed him in the balls instead. It would have hurt him more and hurt me less.
Whatever. It was worth it.
“You really stood up for Aspyn’s honor,” Cody tells me, proudly. “I mean, look. Sean’s my brother-in-law, so he’ll be in my life a long time, but if what you’re saying is true, he deserved the hell out of that punch and he knows it. We’re all good, brother. Let me find you some ice.”
I sit down in the lobby, glad no one on staff saw the sucker punch I gave Sean, and my heart races. It strikes me as odd how easy it had been to throw that punch at my former best friend.
Cody materializes with a zipper bag full of ice, and I take it gratefully.
It’s not that I hate Sean, I just know exactly what he is.
He’s not good, and he’s not worthy of Beck, the dream girl.
Anyone’s dream girl, really. She fishes, hikes, plays ball, hangs out with the boys, and then gets glammed up to go out with the girls.
She has social graces, makes everyone feel comfortable, and then she can out-burp the guys at a barbecue. Beck’s the whole package.
After I ice my hand and chat with Cody for a minute, I head up to her room and knock.
She throws the door open and then looks me up and down. “Deacon, where’s your suit? And why is your hand bleeding?”
“Oh, it’s bleeding? No big deal.” I shrug as she opens the door and steps aside to let me in.
“Just wanted to update you. Shitface was downstairs in the lobby when I went down for coffee, and he was telling Cody how you’re unable to get pregnant.
You’re the problem; you might have PCOS, or maybe you’re just infertile, but he doesn’t think he can stay with you if you can’t get pregnant.
I saw fit to step in, set the record straight, and uh, well, he got the punch that’s been coming to him for a while now. ”
Beck’s eyes widen, and her mouth drops open. “You didn’t! You did? You really hit him?”
“Punched the motherfucker.” I shrug like it’s no big deal, and I’m taken aback when Beck grabs me behind my head and kisses me hard on the cheek. When she releases me, she grabs my hand and peers down at it. She shows the right amount of sympathy, but then asks, “How does Sean’s face look?”
“Different,” I offer. Beck laughs uproariously, bending down, her hands on her waist as she tries to catch her breath.
I touch her back. “I don’t think you’ll have to see that twit at brunch. I’m sure he’s taken his damaged pride and bruised eye home by now. Now, you can go and just relax. Cody’s on your side, by the way. He witnessed everything.”
Beck blows out a breath. “So, everyone knows we broke up.”
“Everyone knows you ended it with him because he’s slime,” I correct her. “I still can’t believe he told Cody you’re infertile. How low can you go?” I snarl as I shake my head angrily.
Beck says something I can’t distinguish because I am too busy staring at her beautiful face.
“Sorry, what?” I ask.
“Would you like some Neosporin and bandages? That’s the fourth time I’ve asked, you space cadet.”
Beck gets on her knees in front of me as I sit on the edge of the tub and she holds my hand in her warm one.
She applies some ointment on the cut on my hand, blows on it to help it dry, and then puts on a bandage that probably won’t stay on my knuckle.
I try not to let my breath hitch when she leans in and kisses my cheek, this time slowly enough that if I turned my head even slightly, our mouths would meet.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “I wanted to punch him myself, but I just got my nails done.”
I chuckle and take a chance, pulling her into my arms as I stand up, giving her a long hug. She smells like strawberries and every other delicious thing. “You’re welcome. He practically punched himself.”
Beck walks me out, and I slip into my room and throw on a gray suit with blue pinstripes on our way downstairs. Beck claims to have forgotten something, and she tells me she’ll meet me down there.
When I get downstairs, I glance at the trash can beside the door to the brunch and spot the seating assignment placards in it, then wonder what the hell that’s about, especially as I see we’re free to sit anywhere.
Barry, who goes by Bear and is one of my closest friends, is seated at a table with his girlfriend Marissa, so I head over and take a seat with a muttered “Good morning.”
“Hear you fucked Sean up,” Marissa tells me. “The rumor is he was telling people that Aspyn is infertile? What the heck is going on with those two?”
“There’s no more ‘those two,’ because they broke up. And yeah, I punched him because he had it coming. You don’t spread lies like that about someone who’s been nothing but the best partner to your lousy ass for the last decade.”
“Respect.” Bear fist bumps my good hand.
I shrug. I’m no hero. A hero wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.
Marissa’s face lights up. “Oh, I also heard you jumped in last night when your friend Aspyn was about to hook up with the hot bartender.”
“He’s not hot.” I roll my eyes.
“You’ve always had a hero complex,” Marissa tells me.
“Yeah, true,” Emmett says as he sits down across from Bear, before silence descends across the table.
“What’s going on?” I hear the unmistakable sound of Beck’s sweet, clear voice as she floats over to the table in her pretty teal dress, with my mother’s turquoise ring blinging out her finger.
“Is everyone talking about me?” Beck asks with a groan, burying her face in her hands. “What? You guys think I’m a slut or something? Yes, I almost hooked up with the bartender, but who wouldn’t? He looks like a young Milo Ventimiglia.”
“Exactly!” Marissa announces triumphantly. “They don’t think he’s hot, but I’m with you, girl. I think you would have had fun hooking up with him, and it seems like Deacon crashed your party. That’s all I’m trying to say. You’re an adult.”
“I didn’t—” I say at the same time Beck says, “He didn’t crash my party. Getting intoxicated and fucking a stranger wouldn’t have helped me feel better about the end of my relationship with Sean. Hell, I probably would’ve blacked out in the middle, anyway.”