Hands Down

by Mariana Zapata

Because you hadn’t asked about me in forever. Because you hurt me when I was seventeen and forgot about me. But mostly, because he knew I didn’t want to see you, and maybe Boogie loves us both, but he loves me more.

Zac Travis hugged me and said, “I sure did miss you, Little Texas.” Something in me unraveled at the name he hadn’t used in so long. In so, so long. With my cheek against his chest, I told him the truth. “I really missed you too, Big Texas.”

anymore. “I still love you too, Peewee,” Zac told me with a sigh, still watching me way too close and carefully. One corner of his mouth hitched up just a tiny, little bit. In another lifetime, I would have killed for those words meant in a different way. But I would take them now, wrap them up in tissue paper, and store them somewhere safe.

“Well, we’re having a special guest today after all.” The tall, lean man came to stand beside me, freaking hip bumping me an inch over. I snorted and tried to keep my shit together. “My longtime friend—” “And number one fan,” he piped in. I blinked at the camera and then blinked at him. “And number one fan, excuse me, Zac Travis.”

One glance toward the door had me finding my big sister hauling ass through the sliding glass doors in what had to be five-inch heels like she was trying to win a gold medal. Connie could run faster in heels than flat-footed, that was a fact. An impressive one too. At least I thought so.

“If we don’t make it out alive, I want you to know I love you,” I said into his ear and felt him laugh again. “See you at the gates?” “Of hell? Yeah, I’ll see you there.”

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Worryin’ about you is like… lovin’ the goddamn sun on my face, kiddo. Like breathin’. It’s never not gonna happen.”

On Connie who was looking at this man she’d been with for nearly two decades like she didn’t know him… but the little freak liked what she saw.

Richard stopped beside my sister, draping an arm across her shoulders as he stole her beer. “You can stay with us however long you need.” “I’m hopin’ to get her to come back to Houston,” a different but very familiar voice said.

That big palm of his came right up to the center of his chest, and he rubbed a circle right there as he said on an exhale, “I sure did miss you.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my sister smack Richard with the back of her hand on the upper arm. And maybe I would’ve reacted if my heart didn’t feel like it had just gotten zapped with a defibrillator.

I wanted to think it was my sister who kicked me in the calf, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been my brother-in-law.

“Come with me to talk to Boogie real quick, and then I’ll tell you whatever you wanna hear,” he said, watching me with those blue eyes I loved. I was pretty sure my sister smacked her husband again.

Zac didn’t hesitate. “Yeah. I should’ve told you when I realized it. I didn’t expect it to happen, but it did,” he told him steadily. “I fought it, I swear, but I didn’t have a goddamn chance, Boog. It was like fightin’ the inevitable. Tryin’ to fight a brick wall. I swear on Paw-Paw’s life, I had zero chance. She came up behind me when I wasn’t expectin’ it and gave me the beatin’ of a lifetime.”

“My whole life, I’ve felt like I was missin’ somethin’, tryin’ to find somethin’. I don’t know how to explain it, and now, it feels like I found it, Boog. It was right in front of my damn face all along.”

My cousin smirked, then snorted and turned, saying over his shoulder, “Bianca was saying earlier that she’s going to get some dogs or cats and be a cougar someday. You’re on your own with that. Thanks for dropping by for a whole minute to see me. You’re a real friend.”

Because I couldn’t comprehend what he’d been trying to imply. He made a soft sound in through his nose. “Did you steal my damn heart, run off with it, and say I’ll see ya later? ’Cause the answer to that is yes.”

“What would you think about… a Tiny Texas?” Zac’s light blue eyes went wide in a fucking instant. He shot up to an elbow and stared at me, giving me a full view of that incredible chest. “A Tiny Texas?” He blinked. “You serious?”