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Gavin's mouth dropped open, and the room was silent for a long moment.
"Now, I get that you had something with her," Mag continued, "but you pretty much blew that when you left her crying at the altar. I stepped in and pretended to be you at the wedding to satisfy Kenny's curiosity, but you are not legally married to Wren. I gave her the ring because yours was shit. We pretended to be married and attended a magic show at Kenny's place. Kenny bought the whole ruse, andwe're in with him trying to dismantle his operation that likely includes selling children as sex slaves or labor slaves, not sure yet."
"Holy shit, Mag."
"You're in love with me?"
He turned to me and grinned. "Surprised myself with that one."
My words caught in my throat. I didn't know what to say. His soft eyes hypnotized me. My stomach fluttered and then my cheeks grew hot as the image of his head between my legs came back to my mind, the way his scruff rubbed my thighs and his moans vibrated against my core as his tongue...
Gavin stood up. "Holy fuckin' shit. She wasmine. The one good thing I ever had."
That was a bold claim on his part. I stood up too and faced him. "You never had me, Gavin." We'd had a couple of dates and kissed a few times. Nothing else had really happened. There was no fluttering in my stomach, no passionate kisses, no soft eyes that looked at me like I was precious.
"You were going to marry me," he threw out unfairly.
"To get Kenny off my back. We were never in love." I didn't know it until now. Until I had something to compare it to. Now that I'd had Mag's special kind of caring, the way he shared his insecurities with me, the way he always kept a hand near to comfort me. Now I knew for sure I'd never loved Gavin.
"You left her with me," Magnum added as he stood up too.
"I didn't leave her with you."
"You left her alone at city hall crying on the steps, and you'd invited me to be there. What the hell did you think I'd do? I thought she was gonna be family at that point. I figured out pretty quick the marriage was a sham, and she was in trouble. Kenny blew up the bakery because he was looking for you."
"Oh shit. I'm so sorry, Wren. I planned—"
"Your plan was shit," Mag interrupted him.
"Well, I'm sorry we can't all be as strategic as you, man. I had no idea about the kids or whatever human trafficking you mentioned."
Mag stared at him for a long time like he was judging his veracity. Eventually he nodded and sat back down.
Gavin and I sat too as everything that had been said hung heavily in the air.
"Do you know anything about the society?" Mag broke the silence.
"Never heard of it. What's going on?"
"He's using some kind of magic society as a front for his illegal deals. You didn't see any of that on the dark web?"
"I thought he might be dealing drugs, but I just worked with the crypto. I wasn't involved in making the deals. I was only setting him up for payments."
"Now you're tied up with that and I gotta work to keep you outta prison for it. You should've come to me. I could've helped, and you'd never have to take a job from a guy like him."
"You think I like going to big brother to bail me out all the time? This was my gig. I was doing it on my own. My girl, my job, and you fucked it all up."
"No. You fucked it up by cyber ransoming Kenny. You should've told me when he threatened her, and I'd have taken care of it."
"Like I said, I don't need big brother cleaning up my shit no more."
"You do!" Mag slammed the table and hot anger came off him. "That's what we do for each other." He pointed sharply at Gavin. "If it were me, you'd be there too. You know it. I don't mind if it's mostly me. I'm your big brother. I look out for you and you need to let me."
Gavin rolled his eyes. "I don't need to do nothin' for the brother who stole my girl while I was outta town."
"Fair enough for now, Gav, but I'm hoping we can get through this and you can accept that Wren is it for me. She will be part of this family, but she'll be mine."
Gavin's brows drew together and he frowned at the table. "She was my chance at happiness."
