Thick & Thin (Thin Love, #3)(37)

Pride is a motherf*cker when you’ve got a lot of it to cram down your throat. But, I didn’t want her mad at me. For once, I’d take my mother’s advice and be the friend to Aly that she needed. It was going to hurt damn bad. I knew that.

Her quite laugh stopped completely as I approached, as I greeted my parents’ friends, then walked right up to Ethan.

“Ethan. Good to see you,” I said, offering the lawyer my hand. Something shifted in his eyes just then. It was a familiar glimmer I’d seen a thousand times during fan meet and greets or when someone recognized me on the street. This guy was a fan, I got that, but if he was a little star struck, he didn’t let it show, blinking away his immediate excitement by returning my handshake.

“Thanks for letting me tag along,” he said, standing next to Aly who wouldn’t look at me. “So, you’re headed out tonight?”

“Yeah. Practice first thing in the morning. We generally don’t get a rest even on bye weeks.”

“Ah. That’s rough.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “It’s really not, man. I work my ass off but at the end of the day, I just tackle people for a living. That’s not a real job. I’m not curing cancer.”

“You do other things,” Aly offered as though she didn’t like hearing me lessen the work I did. “The charity stuff and the Habitat house builds.” She glanced at Ethan when he moved his hand to the back of her neck, recovering from the insult she felt on my behalf. “I just mean, it’s not all games and practices. Those players entertain, but they also help out when people need them.”

“Thanks, nani. I appreciate you saying that.” A small blush worked up her neck, coloring her already tawny skin and I smiled at her, loving to see that I could still flatter her.

“Nani?” Ethan asked, looking between us. Aly opened her mouth, a little surprised, but didn’t speak.

Shit. I didn’t mean to cross a line. God knows I’d done that enough the other day when Aly came to see me, so I tried to tamper any drama before it happened, shrugging at Ethan like the endearment was not big deal. “It’s Hawaiian for ‘beautiful.’ Um…no offense meant. Habit. I’ve always called her that.”

Ethan watched me carefully, biting the inside of his bottom lip like he needed a second to organize his thoughts before his fingers massaged Aly’s shoulder and he laughed. “Well, it’s true.” He kissed the side of her head with his hand still on the back of her neck. “I’m not worried over little pet names, man.”

Aly remained still, the expression on her face a blank and I understood what she was doing. There was always something at play between us. It had been there when she was just my kid brother’s sitter, then when she was just someone who worked for my cousin Leann at her dance studio. Then she became more, but still just a friend. Those expressions she tried to hide were more evident the harder she tried pretending that she wasn’t affected by me or anything kind I might say to her.

The game had altered somewhat and maybe now she didn’t want to play it at all, but I could still see that latent urge to laugh with me, to be friendly without any flirtation or reading anything more into what was happening. She was fighting her inclination to talk to me, to be comfortable around me just to make Ethan think she wasn’t interested.

The complement about my charity work had been a slip and me calling her nani in front of her man was something she hadn’t expected. By the blush fading from her cheeks, I got that it had pleased her, that it might have also worried her. But damn, what was she trying to prove?

“So, can I get you something to drink?” I asked both of them, stepping back toward the glass door before Aly shook her head.

“I’m fine for now,” she said, but Ethan didn’t seem to believe her.

“Nonsense,” he said. “There are bottles of water of there. I’ll get one for you, baby. You’re looking a little flushed.”

He was off before she could stop him and I glanced at her, spotting the little flash of a worry she tried to keep off her face, the one that morphed into a grateful, grin when our gazes met.

Like that? I said silently, moving my eyebrows up.

Aly returned that unanswered question with the smallest shake of her head and an expression that seemed to say Mind your own damn business, bata.

I got it then—the behavior when he was around, the dynamic of their relationship that was a little one sided. Ethan liked to cater to her. That was good. I could respect that. God knows I should have tried more of that.

When the steaks were ready and plates were being filled, Ethan refused to let Aly fix hers, instead piling food on the small plate she held in her hand as though he expected her to finish it all. It was small things I noticed, things I knew no one else would. Things that I saw clearly bothered her. If she didn’t want something, she told him and he at least pretended to listen. But her complaints came when I was out of sight, seemingly when she thought I wasn’t around.

She didn’t want me to see their interaction. That was fine with me. I wasn’t too hyped to see the woman I love pretending to be happy with some other guy.

Mark and Johnny finally showed an hour later, loaded down with bags from the market, mostly liquor. Mom greeted her best friend and his partner with a tight hug that lingered, but didn’t get too worked up, though I did notice Mark whisper in Mom’s ear. They’d been friends so long I could tell when a discussion was inevitable.