text: The hand whacking into Jack's back tore a grunt from him. He glared at his youngest brother. "What the hell is your problem?"
  
  "I was going to ask you the same thing." Wyn spun a chair, then sat and propped his elbows on the back of the chair. "You're miserable. Have been all night."
  
  "That's my fault." Levi tossed his losing hand on the table, sending cards across the surface. "I dragged him away from his latest conquest before he was done with her."
  
  "Is there anyone left in town?" Wyn swept the cards in front of him.
  
  Jack gathered the empties, then tossed the bottles into the recycling bin. "Ask Eric. He'd know."
  
  "Not interested. Got a woman at home." Wyn flipped the cards, facedown, in a perfectly symmetrical stack. "It was rhetorical."
  
  "Not a local." Levi leaned back in his chair.
  
  The shit-eating grin on his twin's face deserved to be smacked off. Too bad Jack had his hands full of cold longnecks.
  
  "Yeah?" Wyn turned to Levi. "Anyone I know?"
  
  "I'm fucking Blaine." Jack slammed the bottle down in front of Wyn. "Happy?"
  
  "Notice how he phrased that?" Wyn met Levi's eyes.
  
  "Yeah." Levi raised his brows in an exaggerated expression. "Fucking, not fucked. As in an active sense where he plans on doing more fucking."
  
  "Yep." Wyn nodded solemnly. "That's what I thought too. There're definite plans for more fucking. Hell, the fucking they shared must've been goddamn amazing to get him to commit to more fucking."
  
  "With the same girl." Levi nodded. He slid his gaze to Jack at the same time Wyn did. "This is some fucking serious shit. I don't know if I should call a doctor or not."
  
  "Not necessary." Jack popped the cap on his beer, then threw the bottle opener at Levi, who caught it midair. "Mind your own fucking business and everything will be fucking fine. Including your pretty-boy face. Otherwise, I might just break your fucking nose again."
  
  Levi looked at Wyn and nodded, his expression grim. "Defensive too."
  
  "Yep." Wyn matched Levi's nod. "I know the signs. Suffered from them myself not long ago."
  
  Jack leaned over the table and grabbed the front of Wyn's shirt. "Shut your damn month. You hear me? We fucked a few times. That's it."
  
  "Same day? Or multiple days?" Levi asked.
  
  Jack uncurled his fingers from Wyn's shirt and glared at Levi. "My sex life is none of your business."
  
  "Since when?" Levi dropped his elbows to the table and leaned forward.
  
  No immediate response came to Jack. They'd always discussed women like this. Usually over cards and booze as they were doing right now. He'd never had a problem with it. Dissecting his intimate plans for Blaine with his brothers didn't sit well, however.
  
  Jack shrugged. "Wyn and Kyle won't be talking about their women anymore. Their fucking is sacred now. Figured I won't share either. It's not exactly fair to them to be going on about different women when they're stuck with only one."
  
  "Stuck is not the term I'd use." Wyn shuffled the cards over and over in a smooth arc that defied gravity. "Lucky comes to mind. Maybe privileged. Or grateful. All I know is having one woman to call mine is a blessing I'd never considered before meeting Iona."
  
  "You love her." Jack wasn't sure if he was asking or stating the fact. Either way, he waited on Wyn's answer.
  
  "Yeah." Wyn separated the deck of cards into three sections, restacked them with the middle section on top, then bent the deck slightly to shuffle the cards again. "I asked Mom if I could have Aunt Irene's old ring. She always liked me. Figured since she didn't have kids, it would honor her if I gave her engagement ring to Iona."
  
  "You're asking Iona to marry you?" Jack didn't know much about Iona but he knew of her aversion to commitments. Wyn had been the one to warn Jack, and everyone else in the family, not to bring up the topic of relationships with her.
  
  "Eh…" Wyn tapped the deck on the table. "Maybe not officially. I'm going to slide it on her ring finger, though. Let her get used to wearing it. To have people see it on her."
  
  "Don't you think people will start asking when the wedding is?" It'd be Jack's first question. Or it would've been if Wyn hadn't made him swear not to bring up commitments with Iona.
  
  "People won't ask." Wyn's assurance probably stemmed from the same reason why Jack wouldn't ask.
  
  "Can't guarantee that." And if Iona had a meltdown over it, Jack would be dealing with the backlash. His brothers' pain felt like his at times. "A huge diamond on Iona's small hand is going to draw a lot of attention."
  
  "Maybe." Wyn swept his thumb over the deck, flicking cards into three piles. "But it'll help Iona get used to the idea."
  
  "Smart move." Levi picked up each card as it landed in front of him more to annoy Wyn than to actually look at his hand. "And if it's taking too long, you could always knock her up like Kyle did with Ronnie."
  
  Wyn paused with the last card to deal under his thumb. "They were trying for a kid. Me and Iona aren't. Besides, she's on birth control. When we have a kid, it'll be planned. Something we're both ready for."
  
  "When you have a kid?" Jack used the same teasing tone Wyn had minutes ago. "You make it sound like it's a given."
  
  "It is." Wyn flicked the last card. It smacked into Jack's chest and landed faceup on the table.
  
  The queen of hearts stared at him. So much for keeping her a secret. Jack flipped the card, then gathered the rest of the scattered pile in front of him. "Does Iona know about this kid she's going to have with you?"
  
  "When the time is right, she will." Wyn fanned his cards and studied his hand. "I know what my woman needs, when she needs it. That's why Iona's with me."
  
  Jack lifted his cards. An almost royal flush stared back at him. All he needed was the ace of hearts. "She's what you need too. You're happy."
  
  "And you're not." Levi spoke up. "You gonna tell us what's up?"
  
  "Since when did poker nights involve discussions about our feelings?" Jack tossed a few chips on the table.
  
  "Special occasion. Something's bothering you." Levi added his bid. "Wyn and I are just doing our brotherly duty and trying to find out if you need us to get involved. Beat the shit out of someone. You know, whatever's needed."
  
  Jack sighed. He slumped over his hand, then discarded the useless cards. "Blaine played her violin for me today."
  
  Wyn grimaced. "Is she that bad?"
  
  "No." Jack snorted. "She's fucking amazing."
  
  "And?" Levi's confused glower fit the comment Jack had made.
  
  "Eliot…that guy she brought to the wedding." Jack slid the card Wyn dealt him closer but didn't lift it. "He's not a lover or anything. He's a conductor. Of an orchestra." Jack added at the confused looks on his brothers' faces. "Eliot's trying to get Blaine to give up her singing and join this charity orchestra tour thing he's planning."
  
  Wyn grunted. "That'd be foolish. She's got quite a following in Russia, according to Iona. Boatloads of money. Branded merchandise. Fans who'll camp out in front of her house waiting to catch her when she leaves. Fanatics, you know the type." Wyn waved off the comment as if Jack knew the hassles of being famous. "Anyway…she's got a damn sweet life set up for herself. Why would she leave it?"
  
  Jack had watched her videos. He might not have understood a word she'd said, but he'd felt everything she'd sung. She was good, exactly as Wyn suggested. "Blaine's even better with her violin."
  
  "A violin?" Levi shook his head. "Nerdy kids and awkward adults play violin."
  
  Jack snorted. Before watching Blaine move in an erotic dance that matched the music she'd played, he might've agreed. "I'm telling you, she's unlike anything I've ever seen. With a little more confidence, she'd become a world-known name. Playing in this orchestra would give it to her. I believe that, but she won't hear it, especially from me."
  
  "'Cause you're only the guy she's fucking." Wyn voiced the truth that was bugging Jack.
  
  "Yeah. And she'd be foolish to give up her singing based on my opinion." Jack traced the edge of the card in front of him. "But she should. I know it. She'd soar if she got the chance."
  
  "And playing her violin for Eliot will give her the opportunity?" Levi asked.
  
  "No. Not exactly." Jack shook his head. "But this tour would open the door for her. Get her name associated with her violining. Make her realize how good she really is."
  
  "Do you even know what good violining sounds like?" Levi frowned. "'Cause I wouldn't."
  
  "No." Jack didn't even know if "violining" was a proper word. "But I know what I felt listening to Blaine. Watching her."
  
  "And that was?" Wyn prompted.
  
  Jack turned over his card. An ace of hearts stared at him. He shoved his pile of chips to the center of the table. Curses from both Levi and Wyn met his move. He waited for them to make their bids, then spread his winning hand on the table. "Heaven."
  
  Both his brothers tossed the cards, conceding the game. Jack swept the chips into his pile, but the win didn't excite him the way it normally did. Thoughts of Blaine and her music consumed him. He wanted her to realize the same thing he had.
  
  Blaine had followed the wrong path in life. Happiness awaited her. She just needed to seize it before the opportunity slipped away.