“God,” Terry continued. “Can you imagine what that wedding is going to be like?”
Frank was stunned. “Please don’t tell me that you’re planning to attend that shit show.”
“Of course not!” Terry shot back quickly.
“Good!”
“Talk about stupid.”
“You couldn’t be more right,” Frank said.
“And you want to know what else is stupid?” Terry was getting pretty steamed. His pretty blue eyes actually seemed to flash a shade darker. “When Alec and I talked about getting married, we’d always thought we were going to use that same place for our ceremony and reception.”
“Douchebag,” Frank said. “You are so better off without him.”
“Screw him.”
“Screw the both of them,” Frank said.
They stood there, partners in resentment. They had been betrayed, and although it was painful being around Terry, Frank had to admit that it was good to be in the presence of someone who knew exactly what he was going through.
“To be fair though, you did kinda bring this on yourself. Well, on both of us, I guess.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Frank realized he shouldn’t have said them. He believed them to be true, and he valued honesty, but occasionally his timing was for shit.
“What does that mean?” Terry asked. He sounded defensive. No surprise there.
It was too late to stop now. “I mean… Well, if you hadn’t suggested that Alec bring Sam along on that business trip to Seattle then they never would’ve been tempted to sleep together and—”
“Oh, would you just shut up!” Terry shouted, surprising Frank a little. He expected some push back, but Terry was really pissed. “God! Did it ever occur to you that I got hurt just as much as you did when my four-year relationship got destroyed?” Terry was breathing hard, but he wasn’t finished. “Because there is nothing you can say that I haven’t already said to myself about the situation, and there isn’t a version that I haven’t replayed endlessly, asking myself what I could have done differently to prevent this. And after all the self-destructive thoughts and therapy and shame and misery, you know what I realized? Those two assholes were going to screw each other eventually, whether they went on that idiotic trip together, or not.”
It was possible that Terry was right, but suddenly Frank felt like the last thing he wanted to do was to dwell on Sam’s betrayal. He had to get out of here. “Whatever. I just can’t wait until this show is over.” Fuck him and his logic.
“Likewise.” Terry replied a bit quicker than Frank would’ve liked.
“Good.”
“Great.” Terry was not letting up. What a dick.
The two of them stood there glaring at each other. For a second of insanity, Frank actually wondered if some weird sexual chemistry was helping to fuel the anger that was flowing between them. Jesus Christ, he needed to stop thinking about Terry that way. Talk about self-destructive.
Fortunately, Terry went back into school-teacher mode. “We need to make a plan for the rest of the filming,” he said.
“I figured we’d just not talk to each other.”
“Right. Why didn’t I think of that?” Terry said, his voice laced with irony. “You think for a second those professional emotion tweakers aren’t going to spot that in a second? And then immediately spend the entire rest of the season using it as an opportunity to mess with us.”
“Gotcha, Snarky,” Frank said. “Sorry for making a suggestion.”
“Screw you,” Terry replied. “We’re on the same side of this disaster whether you want to be or not.”
“Hence my idea that you just shat all over. So what’s your big plan?”
“The opposite. Act as if we’re friends now. They won’t pair us together because there’ll be no drama.”
“That seems risky to me,” Frank said. “I feel like the less time we hang out the better.”
“Exactly,” Terry said. “We’re going to pretend to be friends so that we don’t spend time together—because they won’t pair up two boring, drama-free friends. You honestly think I want to be around you for one more second than is necessary?”
“Whoa. When did you get so fucking mean?”
“Right around the time my summer vacation changed from helping children get good books to read, and trying to forget about the fact that I was just invited to the wedding of the man who I thought I was going to marry, to endlessly dealing with the one person who reminds me of the worst time in my life.”
Frank wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that.
“Look. I’m sorry,” Terry said after a moment. “I just… This was supposed to be fun, and instead I almost bared my ass to the whole world, and…”
“Hey. You don’t need to apologize to me. This whole thing sucks. I’m sorry, too.” Frank stepped forward and gave Terry an awkward hug.
Which immediately led Frank to wonder whether Terry felt what he felt every time they were in physical contact.
Total raging heat.
* * *
From Fixing Frank
© 2017 Jason T. Gaffney with Ed Gaffney
Available in ebook and print from Suzanne Brockmann Presents
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After childhood plans to become the captain of a starship didn’t pan out, Suzanne Brockmann took her fascination with military history, her respect for the men and women who serve, her reverence for diversity, and her love of storytelling, and explored brave new worlds as a New York Times bestselling romance author. Over the past twenty-five years she has written fifty-seven novels, including her award-winning Troubleshooters series about Navy SEAL heroes and the women—and sometimes men—who win their hearts. In addition to writing books, Suzanne Brockmann produces feature-length movies: the award-winning romantic comedy The Perfect Wedding, which she co-wrote with her husband, Ed Gaffney, and their son, Jason; the thriller Russian Doll; and the soon-to-be-released rom-com Analysis Paralysis. She is currently in pre-production for Out of Body, a rom-com with paranormal elements. She has also co-written two YA novels with her daughter Melanie, and is the publisher and editor of an m/m line of category romances called Suzanne Brockmann Presents. Her latest novel is SEAL Camp, available in print and e-book from Suzanne Brockmann Books.
www.SuzanneBrockmann.com
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