Tucker regarded Drew for long moments, hating it when he was right. He loved Della, and while he couldn’t shout that to the world, he could at least be honest with his best friend. If it had been anybody else he’d fallen for, Arlo would have known since the beginning. Tucker wasn’t ashamed of what they’d done. She wasn’t his dirty secret, damn it.

And Arlo could fuck right off with his disapproving bullshit if that’s the way it played out. Taking a swallow of his beer, he turned to his best friend. “I’m in love with your sister. I’m not asking for your approval or your permission. I’m just stating the facts.”

Arlo’s swift intake of breath was loud as a hurricane, and Tucker’s gut dropped to his knees. Drew broke into a broad grin. “Attaboy. Doesn’t it feel better to get it off your chest? You’ll thank me for it one day.”

Tucker sincerely fucking doubted it right now. Arlo had gone very still, which was not good. Like a venomous snake poised to strike. His jaw clenched, the angle blanching a terrible, bloodless white.

“By in love do you mean a courtly kind of thing where you pick her flowers and write poems about her hair and if there happens to be a dragon around you’ll slay it for her, but otherwise it’s all very platonic and sweet and absolutely nothing at all whatsoever to do with getting naked together?”

Tucker shook his head. “No.” It may have been courtly to start with, but it was definitely the latter now, and goddamn it, this was his moment of truth.

“So…you’re sleeping with her?”

“Well, not anymore, no. It was more of a short-term arrangement. But…yes. I was.”

The knuckles on both of Arlo’s hands, which were gripping the counter, went white now, too. “You were sleeping with my sister.”

“Yes.”

“My sister, who has been through the psychological wringer and who I trusted you with?”

“Oh, quit being so fucking melodramatic,” Drew said. “Della’s a grown woman with her own agency who doesn’t need anyone’s protection anymore, and you know it.”

Arlo turned his laser focus on Drew. “And you’ve known about this for how long, exactly?”

Tucker, relieved to be out of Arlo’s crosshairs for a moment, sniggered at Drew, sending him a suck shit look.

Drew shrugged. “A few weeks.”

“And you didn’t think it was worth mentioning to me?”

“No. Because it’s none of your goddamn business who Della sleeps with, even if it is with this bozo.”

Arlo’s puffed up chest seemed to deflate at Drew’s home truth. “So when I asked you that day you were whistling whether you were getting laid or not, you lied to me?”

“No.” Tucker shook his head. “Technically we weren’t…we hadn’t—”