The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(2)

“You go ahead and cry, man,” Del said, tapping Gavin’s foot with the toe of his sneaker. “No shame in that.”

Gavin propped his head against the wall again as twin tears rolled down his cheeks. “I can’t believe I lost her.”

“You’re not going to lose her.”

“She w-w-wants a divorce, asshole.”

Del didn’t react to his stutter. No one on the team did anymore, mostly because Gavin had stopped trying to fight it around them. Which was one more in a long list of things he had Thea to thank for. Before he met her, he was self-conscious, hesitant to speak even in front of people he knew. But Thea was completely unfazed the first time he stuttered in front of her. She didn’t try to finish his sentence, didn’t look away in discomfort. She just waited until he got the words out. No one else besides his family had ever made him feel like he was more than just an awkward, stammering jock.

Which made it that much more of a betrayal when he’d discovered her lie a month ago. And that’s what it felt like. A lie.

His wife had been faking it in bed their entire marriage.

“Did she say that?” Del asked. “Or did she say she thinks it’s time to think about divorce?”

“What’s the fucking difference?”

“One means she’s definitely done with you. The other means you might still have a chance.”

Gavin rolled his head against the wall in sloppy disagreement. “There’s no chance. You didn’t hear her voice. It was like talking to a stranger.”

Del stood and towered over him. “Do you want to fight for your marriage?”

“Yes.” Jesus, yes. More than anything. And shit, now his throat was closing again.

“What are you willing to do?”

“Anything.”

“Do you mean that?”

“W-w-what the fuck? Of course I mean it.”

“Good.” Del offered his hand. “Then come on.”

Gavin let Del pull him to his feet and then followed him back into the main room. His body felt as though it weighed a thousand pounds as he stumbled toward the couch and collapsed onto the cushions.

“Nice place you got here, Scott,” Mack said, emerging from the kitchenette area. He polished a green apple on his shoulder and then took a large, loud bite.

“That’s mine,” Gavin grumbled.

“You weren’t eating it.”

“I was going to eat it.”

“Sure. Right after you reached the bottom of that bottle.”

Gavin flipped him off.

“Knock it off,” Del ordered Mack. “We’ve all been where he is.”

Wait. What? What the hell did that mean?

Yan claimed the seat on the opposite end of the couch and clunked his cowboy boots onto the coffee table. Mack leaned against the wall.

Del looked at them both. “What do you guys think?”

Mack took another bite and spoke with his mouth full. “I don’t know. You really think he can handle it?”

Gavin dragged his hand down his face. He felt like he’d walked into the middle of a movie. A crappy one. “Can someone please explain to me wh-what’s going on?”

Del crossed his arms. “We’re going to save your marriage.”

Gavin snorted, but the three pairs of eyes looking back at him were serious. He groaned. “I’m screwed.”

“You said you were willing to do anything to get Thea back,” Del said.

“Yes,” Gavin mumbled.

“Then I need you to be honest.”

Gavin tensed. Del lowered himself onto the coffee table. It protested under his six-four frame.

“Tell us what happened.”

“I told you. She said—”

“I don’t mean tonight. What happened?”

Gavin darted a glance at all three men. Even if Yan and Eating-His-Apple-Mack weren’t there, Gavin wouldn’t talk about that. It was too humiliating. It would be bad enough to admit that he couldn’t satisfy his own wife in bed, but to also have to own up to the special kind of dumbfuckery that made him freak out, move into the guest room, punish his wife with the silent treatment, and refuse to hear her explanations because his ego was too fucking fragile to handle it? Yeah, no. He’d keep that to himself, thank you very much.

“I can’t tell you,” he finally mumbled.

“Why not?”

“It’s personal.”

“We’re talking about your marriage. Of course it’s personal,” Del said.

“But this is too—”

Mack cut him off with a frustrated noise. “He’s asking if you cheated on her, slapnuts.”

Gavin swiveled his head to glare at Del. “Is that what you think? You actually think I would cheat on her?” Just the thought made him want to bend over the toilet again and evacuate what remained of his liquid dinner.

“No,” Del said. “But we have to ask. It’s a rule. We don’t help cheaters.”

“Who the hell is we? What the fuck is going on?”

“You said she seemed like a stranger last night,” Del said. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe she is a stranger?”

Gavin shot him a what the fuck look.

“All spouses become strangers to each other at some point in a marriage,” Del said. “All human beings are a work in progress, and we don’t all change at the same pace. Who knows how many people have gotten divorced simply because they failed to recognize that what they thought were insurmountable problems were actually just temporary phases?” Del spread his hands wide. “But hell, you two? It’s a wonder you two ever got to know each other at all.”