In Her Sights (The Thousand Words Series Book 2) by Tori Brooks Page A

Flynn got married, Jess and Cassie had a pivotal moment. Jess did anyway in that he was forced to acknowledge Cassie was going to live her life independent of him. He already knew he didn’t have a chance, or not much of one, but this was different. Jess realized someday she would get married, have kids, a dog, whatever. In short, she wasn’t going to choose him. It shook him up. It shook him enough to cause a problem that he admits to, but we’re keeping very quiet.”
    “Quiet enough that I haven’t noticed apparently,” Dev said. “Don’t tell me this is a sex thing.”
    “No! Nothing like that. And you wouldn’t notice. It’s easy to overlook. Jess literally can’t speak to Cassie, and yes, I’m using the word ‘literally’ correctly in this case. It’s not an exaggeration. He can’t talk to her.”
    “What?” Dev shook his head, seemingly unable to accept what Kenny was saying. “But at Thanksgiving and Christmas –”
    “You know very well he avoids her.”
    “He can’t avoid her completely, we have dinner.”
    “He sits far enough away to make direct conversation impossible. You know this, you help him,” Kenny pointed out.
    Dev sat for a moment, staring at him. “You’re saying we can’t go to Tiffany’s funeral.”
    “I think Jess would want to be there to support Cassie. We all would. It’s just that he wouldn’t be very supportive. The first time he tried to offer condolences, and failed, it’d cause more problems than any amount of support our presence could offer. Worse, if he didn’t say anything, she’d question it or take it the wrong way. Especially when the look on his face would obviously show that he wanted to. And even worse yet, if we just left Jess behind, his absence would be as obvious as a neon sign. Any of ours would be. If you went, and the rest of us didn’t, Cassie would question it.”
    Dev nodded. “So you’re saying we can’t go to Tiffany’s funeral.”
    “I’m sorry, Dev.” Kenny sighed. “Do you understand why?”
    To Kenny’s immense relief, Dev nodded again.
    “We’ve got to do something about Jess. This can’t go on.”
    “I’m working on it. For now, just keep it to yourself. Leave him alone and cover for him.”
    “Fine. I’ll go tell Cassie we won’t make it.” Dev stood but Kenny stopped him.
    “I’ll talk to Flynn and Alec. Let her think we tried, it’ll make her feel better. Flynn and Alec will cover for us. Wait to call Cassie back. I’ll let you know.
    “Also, go see Bryan about taking one of his anxiety pills so you can get a decent night’s sleep. We have to tell Jess in the morning.”
     
    ○ ○ ○
     
    Kenny called Flynn and told him the problem with Jess. Flynn wasn’t happy and Kenny promised him a longer conversation later. For now, Flynn agreed flying back wasn’t an option. In fact, Flynn couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather Jess was when Cassie was hurting than in another hemisphere.
    Dev didn’t mention it, but the car that hit Tiffany also clipped Cassie. Maybe Dev didn’t know. Tiffany caught the full impact, while Cassie would be attending her best friend’s funeral on crutches with a rainbow of bruises. Flynn said she portrayed a pathetic picture right now, and the longer they could keep Jess from seeing her, the better.
    The next morning, Kenny got everything straightened out with Alec, and reluctantly even Gere, then sat Bryan and Jess down to tell them. Dev huddled miserably in a corner of the room but claimed he wanted to be there. He was stressed and, for Dev, that meant being with them was the best thing for him.
    Kenny handed Jess a beer and told him the bare-bones version of what was going on.
    “What?” Jess asked, staring at Kenny, then glancing back over his shoulder at Dev.
    “Dev already knew. He heard it from Cassie last night. You weren’t around,” Kenny brought Jess’s attention back to him as Bryan slid back on the bed to sit quietly by the younger man. Kenny watched