Chapter 1 – The Murky Middle
Chapter One
BOWEN
THE MURKY MIDDLE
I dug my toes into the sand, sweat beading between my shoulder blades as I watched my oldest brother, James, smile for the camera, his arm around his wife.
Wife.
I’d officially been a brother-in-law for forty-two whole minutes.
“Tip your head toward her,” the photographer said. “A little more.” Click. “Great. Now take a couple of steps back, feet in the water.”
James nearly tripped. Sucker couldn’t take his eyes off of Sage. And could I blame him? The man had been waiting a long time for this. They’d been together since their junior year of high school.
My mom walked up, now in a pair of shorts and a tank top. It was way too hot to keep that sparkly gown on from the actual wedding. Too hot for the linen pants and long-sleeved button-down I was still wearing—my groomsman get-up.
Mom said something to the photographer. I couldn’t hear what because of the breeze—and because I’d purposely situated myself far enough away that everyone would get the hint that I wanted to be alone.
While they were chatting, Sage gazed up at James, and he took it as an invitation to steal another kiss.
I stared off in the opposite direction. A girl in a bikini gave me a small finger wave.
She was cute. Really cute. Thick, wavy brown hair that hit right at her shoulders.
Curves in all the right places. She’d been checking me out for the last ten minutes.
I glanced away like I hadn’t seen and went back to watching my brother.
A minute later, I realized I was scratching it again. My vertical eyebrow piercing. Or what had been my brow piercing. I’d taken it out right after The Three-Second Kiss That Cost Me Everything. Even a year later, I still scratched it. Out of habit, maybe? No, out of punishment.
My hand dropped to my lap when I heard someone walking up. I looked over just in time to see my cousin Charlie plopping down next to me in the sand. Her gauzy periwinkle-colored bridesmaid dress pooled around her.
“Went to tug your man bun and remembered it’s gone.
” Her blue diamond wedding ring nearly blinded me; the sun glinted off it straight into my eyeball.
“You could’ve left a little something for me to hang onto.
” I chopped my hair last week for the wedding.
“What’re you doing way over here?” Her gaze flashed past me… to the bikini babe. “Oooh, gotcha.”
“Nada.” I clicked my tongue. “Just chilling.”
She leaned over and placed a juicy kiss on my cheek. I tipped away, looking at her like she was nuts. We were huggers, not cheek-kissers.
She snickered. “She looked like she was about to come over and talk to you. Just thought I’d help you shake her loose.”
My gaze skittered to the brunette…who must’ve seen me lean away from Charlie because her eyes were still curious. Interested.
I wound an arm around my cousin like we were a couple, a low chuckle escaping my chest.
“That did it,” Charlie announced. I turned and sure enough, the girl was stalking off in the other direction. “I dunno.” Charlie whistled. “She was a looker. Sure you wanna let that one get away?”
I grunted and picked up a shell, rubbing it between my fingers.
“Let me guess.” Charlie nudged me with her knee. “You’re not into brunettes.”
I gave her a healthy dose of side-eye. “Get thee behind me, Chuck.”
Her jaw jutted. “Wow.”
“Admit it.” I booped her on the nose. “You are a troublemaker.”
She snorted. “And you are what your own mother calls emotionally constipated.”
True. But… “She’s usually saying it about my dad. I get it honest, I guess.”
She chewed her lip, and I could see that something was about to burst out of her mouth. “I ran into Maggie yesterday. In Charlottesville. When I stopped at Target after my doctor’s appointment.”
I groaned. “No.”
“Just let me finish.” She glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was within hearing range. “She’s hurting. Still. You should talk to her,” she said conspiratorially, as if we were planning a coup that might get us killed.
Which is exactly what talking to Maggie would be.
“You know I can’t.” I gave a firm head shake. “Don’t want to. Not interested.”
“Bull crap.” She gave my knee a hard flick.
I tilted away to look at her, shocked. “Excuse me?”
“Just…” She threw her hands up. “Be honest. At least with yourself. You like her. A lot.”
“Liked. Past tense.”
“Bull crap,” she said again, a scowl cutting lines into her forehead.
“That was a year ago. Griff would never forgive me. There’s no point in even entertaining it.”
She sighed. “I just miss her. Miss the dynamic of having her around.”
I knew what she meant. Maggie fit in with this family of country music stars, authors, actors, and professional athletes.
Not because she was all about riding our coattails, but because she wasn’t.
Maggie was one of the only girls I’d ever met who didn’t get starry-eyed by the last names Dupree or Bishop.
If anything, our surnames were a deterrent for her.
“You need to make some girlfriends.” I bumped Charlie’s shoulder.
“You’re tired of being around a bunch of guys.
Admit it. Living in an RV with your smelly husband grates on your nerves.
He probably leaves hair all over the toilet.
Doesn’t rinse the sink after he brushes his teeth. Farts in his sleep.”
She giggled, but then it faded. “Actually, Cash is pretty dang perfect.” She gazed at her husband of two months, who was setting up tables for the reception.
Like I should’ve been. Cash was another of my cousins.
My uncle Ashton adopted Charlie when he married her mom, Tally.
So, when Charlie married Cash, she became a double Dupree.
Dupree squared, as Cash liked to call her.
She sighed, watching him. “I could be happy even if we were the only two people on earth.”
“Wouldn’t miss the rest of us at all, huh?”
She gave me a soft smile. “You know what I mean. He completes me.”
“Okay, Jerry McGuire.”
“He does,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re great together.”
“You are.” So perfect, I would’ve been disgusted if I didn’t love them both so much.
Her big brown eyes turned down. “But you know who else would be great together?”
“Charlie,” I warned.
Her hands flew out. “Just think about it. We’ll find someone else for Griffin.”
“It’s not that easy and you know it.”
She turned toward me. “She’s still gutted about how everything went down. I think…she misses you.”
“Did she say th-at?” my hope-filled voice cracked. I don’t know why. There was no way we could be together, even if that’s what she wanted. Which I highly doubted. Would it be flattering if Magnolia missed me? Yes. But I didn’t want her hurting over this.
I’d hurt enough for both of us.
I mean, what kind of horrible person kisses his brother’s girlfriend? Fine. What kind of horrible person kisses his brother’s girlfriend back? Magnolia had kissed me first.
Pshaw. Like it even mattered. It was all terrible, regardless. So terrible, in fact, that Griff could hardly stand to be in the same room with me even now, a solid twelve months later.
“No, she didn’t say it in words. But I could tell.” Charlie hooked an arm around mine and lay her head on my shoulder. “Just think about it.”
But that was the thing. I already did. All the time.
I leaned my cheek against her hair and closed my eyes.
And just like always, Magnolia’s face appeared.
It was the last time we’d trained together before the race—the night before Griff forbade me from training with her anymore.
Her green eyes were wide, laughing at something I’d said.
She tipped her head toward the trail on Dupree Ranch, urging me to run with her.
I obediently followed. Our strides synced almost immediately.
I loved running. Always had. But running with Magnolia?
Flying over the trail? Flinging her up over the six-foot wall, my hands wrapped around her waist?
I felt so…alive. I counted the minutes until I’d meet up with her the next night to train.
All day long, I could hardly focus on anything else, a constant fizz of anticipation in my gut.
I should’ve known better. There is no way you fall in love with your brother’s girlfriend and it turns into a happily ever after. Not for me, her, or Griff.
“Wish I’d never been paired with her,” I whispered, my chest aching.
Charlie poked me in the side, wearing a disapproving look.
“What? If I’d never drawn that stupid six of hearts, none of it would’ve happened.” That Spartan race derailed everything.
“Did you ever stop to think maybe it was supposed to happen?” Charlie asked.
“It wasn’t.” I drew a line in the sand between my feet. The same way I should’ve drawn a line when it came to Griff’s girlfriend.
A shadow fell over us, blocking out the blazing sun. Cash cleared his throat, looming above. “Should I be concerned that you’re snuggling with my wife?”
I pulled Charlie tighter against me. “You mean my cousin?”
Charlie giggled.
Cash grinned and knelt on her other side.
The second he did, Charlie was a goner—arms around his shoulders, smashing her lips to his. “Hey, you,” she purred.
His grin grew wider. “Hey, beautiful.”
Her fingers twirled his wedding band. “Just chatting with Bowen about…things.”
Cash’s expression turned wary. “About Maggie?” he asked like he could not be part of any such discussion.
After the fallout, sides had been picked.
Charlie had chosen me. Cash chose Griff.
At least when it came to Magnolia. Maybe a normal couple would’ve argued over it, but it almost felt like they’d made a conscious decision to divide and conquer.
As if they could watch over us both by splitting their loyalties.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they regrouped every evening to share intel.