This Is Love

5

"Very funny." I shook my head at him.

"Besides, now I got a question answered without even having to ask it," he said.

"Oh, yeah? And what is that?"

"You like me."

I kept my mouth shut.

"You got so jealous. You should have seen your face, Penny."

The first page Melissa had lifted up had talked about Tyler’s hand on my wife’s ass. And this one was about Penny pretty much admitting that she had feelings for him too. I grabbed another paper off the coffee table.

He really was a sweet guy. "Tyler, I can't ask you to miss your party for this. Melissa made it seem like it was going to be lots of fun."

"Trust me, there is nothing I'd rather be doing." He handed me the disc. I looked down and saw that it was The Princess Bride.

"This is my favorite movie."

"Yeah. I'd be lying if I didn't confess that Melissa told me. But I already owned it, because I like it too." He smiled at me as he pulled the popcorn out of the microwave, then sat on the end of my bed.

I put the movie in and sat down next to him.

"Popcorn?" he asked and put the bag down between us.

"You're a really good friend, Tyler."

"Yeah I know." He laughed and put his arms behind his head and leaned against the wall.

"No seriously. I've never really had a guy friend that was genuinely nice just because he cared."

"Honestly, I'm just paying my dues." He winked at me. "But I like being friends with you too. And since we're just friends, I can do stuff like this and not get in trouble." He slid over and put his arm around my back.

"Is that right?"

"I'm just here to take care of you." He tapped his shoulder that was closest to me.

"So I guess since we're friends I'm supposed to rest my head on your shoulder?"

"Well, I mean if you want. I just had an itch. But I promise I won't read into it."

I leaned my head on his shoulder. In the movie, Westley was just saying goodbye to Buttercup so he could go off and find a fortune so that they could get married.

"I never understood why she was always so mean to him at first," Tyler said.

"Because she didn't realize that she loved him yet."

"Right," Tyler said. He rested his head on top of mine.

I almost crumpled the paper in my hand. It wasn’t just the keychain he had given her that had made me think I knew about Tyler’s link to The Princess Bride. I had read all about it. I had read about it and forgotten it. All the parts about Tyler in this book I had shoved aside. But a lot of them were about him. It wasn’t just Penny and my love story. It was like a twisted love triangle. I had given her this book hoping she’d remember me. And it looked like all she had been doing was remembering him.

“Why does Penny like The Princess Bride?” I asked.

Melissa shrugged. “Something about true love. I don’t know. I never understood the appeal.”

“Does it have anything to do with Tyler?”

“No. She liked it before she met him. Although, he did dress up like Westley for Halloween for her.”

“What? When?”

“When you two were on a break.”

A break. I said I needed time. We weren’t really on a break. But I couldn’t fault Penny for pursuing Tyler during that time. Yet, here I am seething. Why? Because of some stupid film that meant nothing? But that was the problem. It meant something to her. And she never told me. Maybe she liked it before she met Tyler, but it was all intertwined now. They snuggled while they watched it. He dressed up as the main character for her. And he gave her that stupid f*****g key chain. I grabbed another paper off the table as my head started to spin.

I listened to his slow, steady heartbeat. I could lay here forever in his embrace. I let my hand wander beneath his shirt and felt his abs. His body seemed to tense from my touch, which made his muscles even more pronounced. He was so sexy.

"Are you feeling any better?" Tyler whispered.

“What the f**k is this?” I stood up. “All the pages on top are about him.”

“Who?” Melissa asked.

“Tyler.”

She leaned forward. “Oh, yikes.” I watched as she bit into her bottom lip. Her eyes scanned more of the pages. She crossed and uncrossed her legs. “I mean…it kind of looks like they were shuffled around or something? But yeah…most of them are about Tyler. Almost like she picked through the book…but why would she do that?” She made a weird face, a combination of a grimace and confusion.

“Where the hell did you say she was?”

“She went for a walk with one of your security guards.”

“Which one?”

“I don’t know. But would you calm down for one second. This is probably just some misunderstanding. I mean…” She shuffled the papers around with her hands. “It seriously looks like she was just…I don’t know…tossing them around.”

“Tossing them around?” Give me a f*****g break. She had read about Tyler and wanted to read more. I pulled out my phone and clicked on Porter’s name.

He answered in one ring. “Mr. Hunter.”

“Where’s Penny?”

“She’s with Ian. She went for a walk and…”

I hung up the phone.

“James,” Melissa said. “You need to take five and calm down. Whatever it is that’s running through your head, it’s probably wrong.”

“Probably?”

“Yeah. Probably. I’m not going to lie and tell you I’m 100 percent certain she didn’t want to read about Tyler. I can’t read her freaking mind. Anymore anyway.”

“Do you know something?”

“What?” She awkwardly blew a strand of hair out of her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Melissa, you can’t ask me to open up to you and then keep s**t from me. Did she go see Tyler?”

“No. Oh my God. I didn’t lie to you. She went for a walk. But if I’m being totally upfront, she maybe has kinda sorta mentioned that Tyler is exactly her type.”

It felt like my heart stopped. I felt the familiar pain cross my chest. I’d been having these sharp, fleeting pains ever since my cardiac episode. “Tyler and I look nothing alike.”

“I know that. You’re very different. In like…every way.”