Page 102 of 6 Clues Your Nemesis Loves You

I nose her neck and kiss her freckled skin, but my attention slides to Jake.

He’s talking close with Jolene, his hands tucked into his shorts pockets. Nothing about them talking is odd, except his head is tipped forward as though he’s bashful—a state of being I don’t associate with Jake—and Cal is still disappeared behind the cabin. “Something’s up with Jake and Jolene. Or maybe Cal and Jolene.”

“Yes on both fronts.” Maggie turns to people watch with me. “I think Jake is still into her. And every time her name comes up around Cal, he looks like you when you’re stuck in an elevator. Delilah and I can’t figure out why.”

“Are Jake and Jo getting back together?”

She studies the duo. “From what I’ve gathered, they’re just friends. But even if he wants more, I doubt she’d go for it. Didn’t he cheat on her before WITSEC?”

Right. That idiotic rumor about him and Larkin Gray hooking up after a party. “No way Jake cheated. Not his style, but the rumors were intense.”

“Whatever happened,” Maggie says, “I’m not sure Jolene feels that way about him anymore.”

So Jake is maybe trying to rekindle things with Jo, and Cal is being a weirdo, avoiding her at all costs. I smell trouble.

I kiss Maggie’s luscious lips. “Excuse me while I investigate.”

She squeezes my ass covertly. “When everyone’s out of here, we’re getting naked in the grass.”

A throb of desire floods me. It never takes much with her. “If we must.”

I slap her hip and head for the other side of the cabin, where I find unflappable Callahan scrubbing his hand over his face as though he’s just been told he has a month to live.

“What’s up with you and Jolene?” I say, not beating around this thorny bush.

He startles and blanches, like I’ve caught him jacking off in Mom’s favorite oven mitt. (Yes, that actually happened. And yes, I used the intel to bribe him into dares.)

“Nothing’s up,” he says way too fast. “I just needed some shade. Sun was hot.”

Nope. The man does nothing but evade these days. “Why don’t we try this again? You’ve been weird for months. I’ve barely seen you talk to Jo since you’ve moved back. She was your best friend for nine years. Whatever fight you had or whatever happened before WITSEC doesn’t matter now. It’s not like you two were hooking up.”

His skin flushes, and his eyes dart to the grass. Just a second, but oh my God.

Oh my fucking God.

I grip the front of his shirt. “You slept with her?” His brother’s girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend, depending on the timing. Not that the timing matters.

“No,” he whisper-hisses, slapping my hands away. “I’ve never touched Jo. I’d never do that to Jake.”

“So, what? You just secretly have the hots for her?”

His cheeks burn redder than Maggie’s hair. “Shut up. It’s not like that.”

“I can’t shut up.” Because holy fucking shit. Cal is lying his face off. “Are you telling me you covet your brother’s ex? Or current crush, considering he’s still into her and obviously invited her here.”

The only way to describe Cal’s expression is terrified. “If he wants her, that’s great. Really great for him, because nothing happened with Jo and me. We just drifted as friends do, so quit being such a pest.” He glares at me and storms off in a huff.

I stare after him, bewildered. Cal doesn’t glare or storm. He doesn’t hide from his family or get this defensive. He fixes our problems, which means he might actually have it bad for Jo. Nowhere on my Bower Boys Disasters Bingo Card did I have Cal Falls for His Brother’s Ex-Girlfriend.

Maggie comes around the corner and wraps her arms around my neck. “Cal left early. Said he wasn’t feeling well.”

I press my forehead to hers. “This might be bad. Like, really bad.”

“Does Cal like Jo?”

“It’s a possibility.” I’m not sure why I never considered this. Maybe I was in denial, didn’t want to see either of my brothers hurt. But this is something Cal would do—our secret vigilante, putting everyone before himself, hiding whatever he’s been feeling to make sure Jake’s happy. The man will let himself be flayed to ribbons before he does a thing to upset our family balance, when he deserves to be as happy as me.

“Are you sure Jolene isn’t into Jake?” I ask, holding Maggie tight.