I swallow hard. I was the one to tell her only four days ago that I don’t do relationships, that I had nothing to offer beyond a friends-with-benefits arrangement. And she was with me on that. “She has no desire to be with someone like me.”

“A player?” Jake says at the same time as Shay says, “A man-whore?”

“A firefighter,” I growl. I roll my shoulders back. “She was in love with a police officer who died on a bad traffic call. She’s got a thing against guys with dangerous jobs.” I turn to Shay. “Did she ever tell you about Heath?”

“Heath?” My sister frowns and shakes her head. “That name doesn’t ring any bells.”

I hope Teagan won’t mind me asking, but it’s weird that she wouldn’t tell Shay, one of her best friends, about a man she thought she’d marry. “What about Rich?”

“He’s the ex she wanted you around because of, right?” Shay asks.

I nod. “Yeah, but do you know anything about him?”

“No, not really.” She takes the spot opposite Jake, and we all lean against my car, in no hurry to get inside. “It’s weird, now that I think about it. An ex bad enough to merit a fake boyfriend at her sister’s wedding, and yet she’s never talked about him.”

“I met him inside,” Jake says, shrugging. “He seemed okay.”

I grunt. “Her whole family loves him, and he seems nice enough, but . . .”

“But what?”

I cut my eyes to my sister. “I swear this isn’t a typical case of ex avoidance. I have a bad feeling about him. It’s like he’s too nice. Too much of everything her parents want him to be. And I think . . .” I shake my head, trying to piece it together—Teagan’s terror when Rich was in town, the way he seems to still know her so well even though they haven’t dated since high school, and the text she got today. The way she immediately looked at him afterward and then shut me out. “She’s scared of him.”

“Think he was abusive?” Jake asks.

“That’s the only thing I can come up with,” I say. “She’s admitted he was very controlling, so it’s logical he may have been physical about that need to control her. But even that doesn’t completely make sense. Why wouldn’t she tell her parents? Or at least her sister?”

“Why don’t you ask her?” Shay asks.

“Because when I agreed to do this for her this weekend, she made me promise I wouldn’t ask about Rich.”

Jake lets out a long breath and squeezes my shoulder. “I need to get back in there before Cindy threatens to cut my dick off again, but let me know if I can do anything to help.”

“I’m going in too,” Shay says.

I arch a brow. “Girls’ night tonight?”

“No. I’m avoiding the dissertation.”

“Ah, yes, I hear that’s the best way to finish it.”

She smacks my arm. “Shut up. Writing is hard.”