Page 54 of Against The Tide

All there is, is Rhett Reynolds, and I cling to him like he could be all my tomorrows.

CHAPTER 16

RHETT

In all the years I’ve lived in Silverlark Harbor, I have never visited the aquarium. In fact, I think the last time I visited an aquarium was when Rowan and I were kids. Walking around the dark and quiet tunnels has a nostalgic whim to it. The atmosphere is so relaxing, and it’s sort of awing seeing Avery in her element.

Hmm, maybe I should get a tank…

Avery could come over and take care of it, and Iris would be so enthralled by it that I might be able to kiss her mom some more. Because, damn, now that I’ve had a taste, I’m salivating for the next. Obviously, now that we are on a kissing level, every fucker and their friend keeps worming their way into our “alone” time. Especially since Callie and Rowan got back from DC last week.

Where Scarlett and Iris entertain each other, it would appear that my usually supercool and independent sister-in-law has had a personality transplant and is constantly hogging Avery to herself. I should be sharing with her, not the other way around. To make it worse, Spencer and Olivia are visiting, and our aquarium plan got hijacked. It was meant to be a low-key, no-pressure, non-date date.

“If you keep looking at her like that, she’s going to think you’re a serial killer.” Rowan pauses beside me as we get to the main tank, laughing at me as though he’s aware of my jealousy.

Something else that’s new.

“You look like someone’s stolen your puppy,” he teases some more much to Spencer’s amusement.

“Well, if your puppies stopped monopolizing my puppy—” I stop as they both burst out laughing.

Assholes!

I fucking hate Rowan and his ability to stealth ninja his way into my head. He does it all the time, something I’ll never thank Callie for, and with Spencer around, he always takes it to the next level, like he always did when we were kids.

“You want to talk about it, Doc?” Rowan sticks his hands in his pockets, plumping his chest as though we’re about to have a moment or something.

“I’m not coming to Jesus, dickhead, so you can deflate your ego and swallow down whatever funny shit you’re dying to spit out.”

“Oooo, someone has his panties in a twist,” Rowan snickers quickly followed by Spencer’s sigh. “If either of you start with Pam, I’ll smash your heads together.”

“Seriously, man, don’t.”

“Fine, we can have a come-to-Rowan conversation instead.”

Fuck my ever-loving life. Of all the brothers I could’ve had, I got this jerk.

“She’s different to your usual MO.” He nods at where Avery is standing with the girls and the kids.

Spencer gives me his quiet smirk. Technically we were friends first, but that counts for shit these days.

“She is different,” Spencer finally says, catching his youngest daughter, Kennedy, as she tries to make a getaway.

“I want to go back to Nemo,” she pouts at him, and without a second thought, he hitches her over his shoulder and heads back to one of the smaller tanks.

“Do you even really know what to do with a kid?” Rowan asks as we follow behind him.

“I’m a doctor—I was around kids before you started making them.”

“Hmm…I guess,” he hums. “But still, she’s different, you know?”

“No, I don’t!” My defensive outburst takes Spencer by surprise because his brows hitch right up, and his blue eyes narrow on me. He’s uberprotective of the girls; raised voices aren’t his and Olivia’s style. “Just spit it out, whatever it is…”

Cracking his knuckles with a shit-eating grin, Rowan says, “Well, you know, Avery has dark hair…light eyes…she’s not that much taller than Callie…”

“Wait, most people are taller than your wife,” Spencer laughs in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

“True. I swear to God she’s part dwarf.”