24. Something To Be Mine
24
SOMETHING TO BE MINE
“ Y ou’re joking,” Spencer said on Saturday as his best friend looked between Coy and Angel.
“No,” he said. They’d just broken the news to Spencer. Angel’s parents were in his living room too, having arrived not that long ago.
Spencer looked at Angel. “You two are dating?”
“We are,” she said, picking his hand up and threading their fingers together.
“No,” Spencer said. “You wouldn’t do this to me.”
Coy hated the pissed-off look on Spencer’s face and knew it would only get worse.
“I’m not doing anything to you,” he said.
“Spencer,” Barb said. “Stop being so stubborn and open your eyes to what has been in front of your face for years.”
He always loved Spencer’s mother for being so direct. But even he had been blind to what Angel had felt.
“So you two knew about this?” Spencer asked his parents. “How long have you known?”
“A month after they’d been dating,” Barb said.
“Wait,” Spencer said, his hands going up in the air. “How long has this been going on?”
He looked at Angel. She shrugged. “A little over three months.”
“What the hell?!” Spencer shouted. “And no one thought to tell me this? I thought we had each other’s back, Coy.”
“Calm down,” Todd said. “That has nothing to do with it.”
“You’re acting like an idiot,” Angel said. “Dad is right.”
“No,” Spencer said. “I’m right. And Coy knows it. You’re my best friend. You tell me everything and you didn’t think I should know you’ve been dating my sister for three freaking months.”
“It’s not something I would say in a text or over the phone. You haven’t exactly been around much yourself,” he argued.
“But we’ve talked and you could have hinted or something and not let me be blindsided like this.”
Angel stood up and marched over to get in her brother’s face. “Cut the crap,” she said pointing at him. “I’m not a child. I’m an adult. He’s good enough to be your best friend but not good enough for your sister? Do you know how stupid that sounds? I bet you’d feel this way about any man I dated so I’d think you’d be happy I was with someone that you respect and trust.”
Spencer looked stunned by the anger behind Angel’s words. Coy might admit he was a bit terrified to know she had that in her.
He looked over and saw Barb smirking though.
“Your sister is right,” Todd said. “I’m not sure why you are bothered by this. We’ve loved Coy like a son for years.”
“That’s right,” Spencer said. “And he betrayed that.”
Angel whacked her brother’s arm and then shook her hand off. Spencer hadn’t even flinched. “Cut it out. I mean it. There is no reason for this reaction. We love each other. We didn’t tell anyone for a solid month we were dating because, though I’ve been half in love with Coy for most of my life, he had a lot of catching up to do. For a smart guy, he was as clueless as you.”
He snorted. “You had no idea?” Spencer asked him.
“No,” he said. “And trust me when I tell you the guilt was hard to get past. Maybe my feelings started to change, but I kept them in. It didn’t feel right. She’s your baby sister.”
Angel turned and marched toward him, but before she could get in his face over his comment, he pulled her next to him and under his arm. They had more important news to get to before everyone could calm down.
“That’s right,” Spencer said. “You should know better.”
“I don’t know what you want from me,” Coy said. “I love your sister. You know me. You know the type of person I am. I wouldn’t do wrong by any of you and yet I felt as if I had no way to control your reaction. Should I have told you sooner? Sure. But Angel wanted to wait and I was letting her make that decision.”
“Why did you want to wait?” Spencer asked his sister.
“Because for once in my life, I wanted something to be mine,” she said. “I didn’t want eyes on me and watching everything. We just told his employees this week too. Coy’s family has known for a few weeks.”
“But I have to be the last to know?” Spencer asked. “You used to tell me everything, Coy.”
“And if you weren’t flying to the West Coast every other weekend and not working seventy hours a week, then maybe I would have,” he said.
“I didn’t want him to,” Angel said. “He honored that. If you’re going to be mad at anyone, then you should be mad at me.”
“I know where the blame lies,” Spencer said. He pointed at Coy. “Right at you.”
“Spencer Michael Jansen,” Barb said. “I swear to God you’re acting like a child. I’m not sure what the hell your problem is. Angel is a grown assed woman who can decide who she wants to date.”
“That’s right, Mom.”
“The heart wants what it wants,” Coy said. He knew it sounded stupid to him, but it did cause Spencer to snort and then almost smirk.
“You always said shit like that. Something about this island,” Spencer said.
“There you go,” Coy said. “Blame it on the island and my ancestors. I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t want a wall between us. I love your sister. I’m humbled by what she said, but it’s the truth. You know me better than my own brothers. Wouldn’t you want that for your only sister?”
He had to calm this situation down before they hit them with the rest of this news.
Spencer took a deep breath. “Yeah,” Spencer said, shaking his arms out. “I just need to process this. I’ll be fine. I guess. I think. It all makes sense, but you know how I feel about her.”
“I do,” Coy said. “I feel just as protective of her as you. You should know that.”
“I asked you to keep an eye on her,” Spencer said.
“He did,” Angel said, laughing. “A close eye.”
“Very cute,” Spencer said. “It wasn’t what I had in mind.” Coy knew his best friend was coming around. It sucked to hit him with the next statement though, but it had to be done.
“Are we all good now?” Angel asked. “Wouldn’t you want the best for me?”
“Always,” Spencer said.
“The best is Coy,” Barb said.
He was even more humbled by that statement.
“Thank you,” he said.
Angel looked at her brother. “Spencer?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Like I said, I need time to process him going from my best friend to the dude dating my sister.”
“He’s still going to be your best friend,” Todd said. “Or do you think that is going to change?”
“I hadn’t until you said that, Dad,” Spencer said. “I don’t want to know any details like we used to share.”
“We never shared much like what your sister is thinking,” he said. That was the last thing he was going to do and it was not something he’d done in the past.
The things they shared were more along the lines of not wanting to be accused of something they didn’t do. Not to be wanted for what they had rather than who they were.
Angel never looked at him as anything other than the guy she fell in love with.
Maybe her having a crush on him so young let her see the person and not what he represented when people became adults and got greedy.
“You better not,” she said, nudging his arm.
He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Spencer frowned, but he wasn’t going to watch his every little move because his best friend was uncomfortable.
“So you’re fine now, Spencer?” Barb asked. “We can get on with our weekend and just visit now that we are all here?”
Spencer was staying with him as he always did. He’d told Angel to have her parents stay here too rather than her place and they would have the time together.
They were playing it by ear, but he was sure when the next piece of news came out, decisions would be made.
“It is what it is,” Spencer said. “I’ll be getting a beer soon, that is all I’ve got to say.”
He supposed he was glad Spencer got held up at work and didn’t come in last night. That would have been hard to spend the time with him and not say everything at once, but they were holding out for Barb and Todd to get here.
“Don’t crack it open just yet,” Angel said. “There is one more thing.”
“What’s that?” Spencer asked. “Not much more can surprise me.”
Angel looked at Coy and shrugged. He saw the tears start to gather in her eyes and he ran his hand down her arm. “Smile,” he mouthed to her.
She’d been much happier about the pregnancy until her doctor’s appointment. He kept telling her it’d be fine and he believed it one hundred percent. He had to.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out.
There was dead silence and shocked looks around the room.
“Fuck that!” Spencer shouted and stormed out to the deck.
He stood up to follow his best friend but was stopped. “Give him a minute,” Barb said, “and talk to us. Are you sure?”
“I am,” she said. “I went to see a doctor on Thursday. I’m not far along. I’m just as stunned as you. I took a home pregnancy test last weekend. We’ve barely had a week to absorb this too. No one else knows.”
They would tell his parents after this weekend.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Barb said. “It’s not what we expected to hear.”
“Us either,” she said. “You know how I feel about this. I want to focus on my career.”
Her bottom lip started to tremble a little and he sat down and pulled her close. “I’m very happy about the baby,” he said. “Thrilled. But I know it’s not what Angel had planned. I’m going to support her in her career. She knows that. I’ll be there with her one hundred percent of the way. We have been protected. Things just happen without our control.”
Angel nodded. “Coy is right. We’ve talked about it. I’m going to be fine. Just so much going on at once.”
He turned his head and saw Spencer standing out in the cold with his hands on the railing and his head down.
“Go talk to him,” Todd said.
Coy stood up and grabbed his jacket and Spencer’s and opened the glass doors. There was a breeze and flurries in the air.
“You’re going to get frostbite,” he said, tossing Spencer his jacket.
“You’re going to marry her, right?” Spencer said. “You know how we both feel about this.”
“I am,” he said. “I need to work on her some more. She’s a little fragile at the moment and it’s not the time or place.”
“I want to fucking deck you,” Spencer said.
“I wouldn’t advise it,” he said. “I’m bigger than you.”
The two of them wrestled enough in their college days and he always bested Spencer. He’d had years of losing to his older brothers who were bigger than him, but it made him stronger and taught him to fight dirty when he needed to.
“How the hell did this happen?” Spencer asked.
He saw the pained look on his best friend’s face. “Do I have to explain the birds and bees to you? You’re the one who had more women than me in college.”
Probably not what he should have said when Spencer clenched his fists. “It’s not funny.”
“No,” he said. “It’s not. This is serious. I need my best friend now.”
“So now you’re my best friend and not the guy sleeping with my sister.”
He wanted to grab Spencer by the shirtfront and shake some sense into him, but it wouldn’t accomplish anything.
“Dude. I’m scared shitless over this. You three are the first to know. I’ve had no one to talk to other than Angel and I’ve spent a week calming her down and getting her to understand it’s going to be okay. I don’t need any more shit from you. I just don’t. There was a time when we had each other’s back. If it was anyone else other than your sister, you’d be there for me. I’d like to think that you’d be there even more now.”
Spencer ran his hands through his hair. “You know I will. You dumped a lot of crap on my shoulders just now.”
“You’re the one choosing to react the way you are about our relationship. I expected the shock over it but not as much anger as you’re showing and I’m not sure why that is. Do you think I’m that horrible of a person and not worthy of your sister?”
“No,” Spencer said. “I still see her as this thirteen-year-old who had open heart surgery.”
He blinked his eyes a few times and tried to not let any emotion show. “And I was there listening to you through it all. Being there for you. Why do you think it was so hard for me when I started to see her as someone other than that teen? As Spencer’s younger sister? But she’s a grown adult. A beautiful person inside and out. She’s strong and capable and deserves to be respected for that.”
“If I don’t, she’ll slap me again,” Spencer said. “My mother might do it too. Why are you scared?”
“Come inside,” he said. “Let’s all talk.”
“What aren’t you saying?” Spencer asked, grabbing his arm when he turned to leave. “I know you. I know when there is more going on. What is it?”
He didn’t say anything but opened the screen door for them to return to the family room.
“Are you calmed down now?” Barb asked her son.
“About as much as I’m going to be,” Spencer said. “Don’t expect miracles at the moment.”
Coy looked at Angel and nodded his head.
“One more thing—the doctor said I need to be under the care of a specialist,” she said, her bottom lip trembling. Coy went over to sit next to her and pulled her into his arms. When he told Spencer he was scared shitless, he knew how the whole Jansen family felt for years. “A cardiologist.”