Isn't It Bromantic (Bromance Book Club #4) by Lyssa Kay Adams

            Vlad tried not to growl in frustration. He knew backstory was everything. It was one of the central rules of book club. Whatever happened to a character before the first page of the book determined who they were on the first page of the book, and that dictated how they navigated every page afterward. “I already know their backstory,” Vlad grumbled.

            “Then why are you struggling?” Malcolm countered.

            “I don’t know.”

            Del popped a cracker in his mouth and then immediately let it fall out. “That tastes like cardboard. Is this the kind of shit you have to eat all the time?”

            “What? No. There are a lot of good gluten-free snacks.”

            Del shoved the bag away. “This isn’t one of them.”

            “Focus, boys,” Colton said.

            “Let’s start with Tony,” Malcolm said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “Why didn’t he tell Anna that he was 4F when she first accused him of not doing enough for the war effort?”

            “Because he was offended.”

            “Sure, but why?” Malcolm asked.

            “Because it was a rude assumption to make.”

            “True,” Mack said, “but that doesn’t explain why he didn’t just set her straight, tell her that her assumption was wrong.”

            Malcolm jumped in. “Maybe he wasn’t offended. Maybe he was scared. In all the books we’ve read, characters fear something at the start of the book, and that fear drives their behavior. Which isn’t all that unlike people in real life, right?”

            Gavin nodded like a man who’d seen some shit. “Fear forces us to do stupid things, brother. Make bad decisions, often against our own best interests and against wh-what we really w-want in life.” The reappearance of his stammer told him how much he spoke from experience. Gavin and his wife had been through hell before book club helped them repair their marriage.

            “Fear has led every single one of us down very bad paths in our relationships,” Malcolm said.

            Mack took over again. “So what is Tony afraid of?”

            Vlad blinked. Little pinpricks of creative electricity were coming alive in his body. “Not being good enough.”

            Del nodded. “And why does Anna target that fear when she comes into his life?”

            The creative electricity illuminated a light bulb. “Because she is everything he wants but thinks he doesn’t deserve.”

            Malcolm pointed at the white board. “Write that down, Colton.” He returned his attention to Vlad. “And why would that be?”

            Vlad stared at the notebook on his lap. His pen was poised and ready for brilliance.

            “Dig deep,” Malcolm said.

            Light bulb. Vlad started writing notes. “Being 4F has made him ashamed that he can’t fight like his brothers. Anna . . . she is so brave and talented and—and fearless. He thinks he will not measure up for someone like her. And when she drops the photo, he realizes she is in love with a brave pilot, which just makes him feel worse.”

            “Can you go deeper with that?” Del prompted. “Why does her being in love with a pilot directly target his fear?”

            “Because the pilot was able to fight, but Tony couldn’t,” Vlad repeated. Shit. Another answer appeared, and he bent over his paper. “He’s afraid that his whole life will be like that. He’ll always be the guy who didn’t fight. The man who wasn’t quite a man.”

            “A man who failed when it mattered most?” Yan prompted.

            “Yes,” Vlad breathed. He blinked as the story began to slowly take shape in his mind. “He wasn’t there when it mattered.”

            “And Anna is a reminder of that,” Malcolm said. “So, of course he’s going to react badly when she calls him out for not being in uniform. It directly targeted his—”

            “Sense of self,” Vlad said.