Jenner stepped beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. “What are you doing out of bed?”
I rolled my eyes at how obtuse he was being. “I heard you fighting. Again. I’m only going to say this one more time, so you both better listen. I love that you both want the best for me, but neither of you gets to decide what I will or will not be doing. If you want to voice your concerns, then do that to me and me only. No more of seeing which one of you can pee the farthest. I’m over it.” I pulled myself out from underneath Jenner’s hold. “You want me to rest and get better, but I can’t do that with you constantly fighting. Paul, you need to get over the fact that Jenner didn’t ask you for my hand in marriage. It’s over and done, and nothing is going to change the fact.” I turned my glare to Jenner, who took a step back. Paul was used to it after living with me for years, but it had been a while since Jenner and I butted heads. “You need to listen to what my brother has to say. He only wants what’s best for me, and he usually knows what I want.”
“Are you saying I don’t know what you want now?” Paul all but crawled over the island to get in my face.
“Back off, man, and listen to her. We both need to listen.” Jenner shouldered in front of me. He didn’t need to protect me from my brother. I understood Paul only wanted what was best for me, and it was hard for him to step down as my caregiver.
Not that I thought of Jenner as my caregiver, even though he had done a great job of it so far since my accident.
“I’m staying here in California, where my husband and job are. Catherine is going to let me work from home for as long as I need to, but I do think there might be a need for some sort of security when we’re out. While I can’t say for certain the person who was driving the car that ran me off the road was the man I’d seen Poppy with all week, I don’t want to risk it.”
It was hard not to tell my brother that we thought we might have been drugged the night we got married. It gave our situation more credit, but since he was my brother, he was already on the protection bandwagon.
“I agree,” Paul grinned happily.
“I still think I should call that bitch and see what she’s up to. I don’t like that she was hanging around all week and then this. Who knows what kind of drugs she’s on and how unhinged she is.” He leaned his elbows on the counter and hung his head. He continued to let it sink down until his forehead was resting on the countertop. “She was at the grocery store when we were there. Do you think she followed us?”
Resting my hand on his back, I answered even as I saw Paul’s eyes narrow on my touch. What was his problem? It was normal to touch your husband. Had it been that long since he’d had a girlfriend of any sort? “If you think it’s a possibility, then yes.”
“Fuck,” he growled out. “I’m sorry my past is coming back to bite us in the ass. At least while we’re on our trip to Fairlane, things should be calm.”
With everything that had happened, I’d forgotten about going to his friends' house for the fourth.
Steadying myself on Jenner, I moved from standing with the scooter to get myself on the bar stool.
“Why didn’t you help her?” Paul snarled at Jenner. “And what’s this about a trip?”
Jenner tensed beside me. If they didn’t get over their shit and soon, I was sure fists would fly.
“Hey, why don’t you sit down by me and keep me company?”
Without breaking eye contact, he pulled a stool next to mine and sat down.
“Jenner has friends who live in Fairlane, Missouri, and they invited us to go there for the fourth.” I looked down at my broken leg, wondering how I was going to fly with a full-on leg cast. “Although now I’m not sure how I can.”
“You’d have to have two seats just for your leg. I guess you can’t go now.” Paul smiled, and I wanted to slap that smile right off his face.
“How did you think I was going to get to Virginia with you?”
His smile slipped from his smug face.
“Now that you won’t be working at the office, we could rent an RV. It will obviously take a little longer, but we’ve got nothing but time now it seems.”
“Of course, throw your money at the situation,” Paul said, not quite under his breath.
“How do you think she’s going to get security without money?” Jenner growled.
“None of this would be happening if you weren’t in the spotlight with all your money,” Paul shot back.
“I’ve been working since I was a child. There’s no possible way I could ever spend all the money I’ve made, so there’s no fixing that. As for—”
“Don’t say another word,” I all but shrieked out. “No one is going to ask you to give up what makes you happy. I knew what I was signing on to when we got married.”
Jenner lifted his hung head and raised his brows at me.
“Now we’re going to stop fighting because we need to get ready to drive to Fairlane. Jenner, you need to cancel our flight, call Alex to let her know the change of plans, and find an RV big enough for me to get around in.”
Paul barked out a laugh. “She told you.”
“And Paul, since you’re so concerned about my safety, you’re going to come with us. End of story. Now, I’m going to eat my sandwich, take my pain meds, and go back to bed. If I hear anymore fighting between the two of you, I’m going to kick both of your asses.”
“I suggest we do as she says because she means business,” Paul said as he walked out of the room.
Jenner leaned over until his mouth hovered over my ear. “I’ve never been more turned on before in my life, and it’s killing me that there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jenner
“You’re the world’s worst driver. When are you going to pull over and let me drive?” Abbi’s brother groaned from behind us.
Abbi giggled and then rolled her lips. “Leave him alone. It takes time to get used to driving a big rig like this.”
“And how many days do we need to give him? We’ve already been through California and Arizona. Do we wait until he takes someone out in Texas tomorrow?”
How Abbi turned the way she did, I had no idea. Her brother was the bane of my existence. I couldn’t even breathe when he was around. He found something wrong with everything I did. I wouldn’t be surprised if he convinced Abbi to divorce me without even knowing the circumstances.
“If you want to drive, why didn’t you say so? I’d happily take a break in the back with my wife.” I wiggled my eyebrows at Abbi. “What do you say, baby girl, do you want to relax in the back with me?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “You two are intolerable. Why don’t you pull over so I can go in the back by myself? That’s the only way I’m going to get any peace and quiet.”
“Looks like there’s trouble in paradise,” Paul sing-songed.
It took everything in me not to swerve off the road and throw him out of the RV. This was not the vacation I thought it was going to be. I was afraid to touch Abbi for fear of hurting her, and we were never going to enjoy a free moment with Paul hovering over us twenty-four-seven.