47. Hunter
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
HUNTER
“ A lright…” Trevor rubs his hands together. “Now we gotta figure out how to get you two alone.”
“I still vote for the grand gesture route. Grab that mic and spill your heart out,” Chase says.
I shudder at the thought of having all these extra people in my business. I’m nervous enough as it is. “Bruh, hard pass.”
“Go pull her aside right now.” Trevor nudges me toward the table. “Tell her you want to take her outside.”
Scowling, I shake my head. “Naw, that sounds like I want to fight her in the parking lot.”
“Yeah, that’s not romantic at all, Trev,” Chase says. “He’s supposed to leave an impression, not freak her out even more.”
Ashlie running from me this morning flashes in my mind. As frustrating as it was, I let her go anyway. Technically, I broke the agreement; she asked until after the wedding. But a full day of keeping my hands and eyes to myself has been agonizing. All I want to do is cling to her. I can’t wait until tomorrow.
“You could show up at her parent’s house tonight.” Trevor tries again. “Borrow that boombox over there and blast it outside her bedroom window.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Chase gives Trevor a high-five.
“You guys are horrible at this.” Kayla laughs beside me. I’ve been so tuned into the back and forth between these two dummies, I didn’t even see her come over.
“Oh, and you have something better?” Chase cocks his head.
With crossed arms and an arched brow, she cocks her head right back. “I do, and I’ve already put it in motion. Operation: Sunshine will be a success. The three of you can thank me later.”
“How do you know about that?” Trevor asks, wide-eyed.
“For three guys moonlighting as secret spies, you really need to check your surroundings. I heard you scheming through the open kitchen window while I was out on the deck last night.”
“So, you gonna fill us in on your plan, or…?” I ask, impatiently scanning the room for my girl.
“I just sent her to the supply room to find blush-colored forks.”
Blinking at her does nothing to reveal the hidden meaning in her message, and the other two look just as lost as I am. “How the hell is that helpful?” I ask.
“There are no blush-colored forks. All the plasticware tonight is champagne-colored.”
I glower at my sister. What the fuck do forks have to do with anything ?
Kayla sighs her frustration, twirling her hands around to emphasize her point. “She’s going to be looking for a while. For something that doesn’t exist. Alone. Where no one will bother her …” I still have nothing. “Oh. My. God. Hunter, go to the damn supply room, close the door, and tell her whatever you need to tell her.”
“Genius.” Trevor claps slowly. “That’s it. That’s the move.”
“Baby, that’s so good! Marry me?” Chase teases, pulling Kayla into a hug. She rolls her eyes, but smiles and hugs him back.
“Hunt, you’re my brother, I love you, and I’m only going to say this once…” Kayla warns.
“What? If I hurt her, you’ll kill me?”
“Nope.” She gives me a gentle smile. “Don’t hold back. She needs to hear all of it.”
Without another word, I spring toward the hallway. I know what I want to say to her. Hopefully, this time, she’s willing to consider it. Consider me . I open the door, prepared to sweep the love of my life off her feet, but I stop at the sight of her biting her thumbnail as she watches me enter. We’re suspended in time for a few seconds, just staring, and I’m pretty sure my sister was working as a double agent.
“Kayla mentioned something about forks…” I take slow steps toward her. “This isn’t about forks, is it?”
She shakes her head, dropping her trembling hands at her sides, and takes a deep breath. “I need to fix all of this. The last few months, I’ve blamed you for my hesitation and refused to acknowledge all the ways you’ve been changing. Made you jump through hoops. Avoided my feelings for you so I could keep hiding in a corner, scared.” She reaches for my hand, her gaze studying our laced fingers. “I know I’m the problem here, Hunter.”
I swallow thickly. This wasn’t what I was expecting at all .
“I’ve been hypocritical, calling you out for keeping your feelings inside when I’m the one who wasn’t communicating. And when I asked for space…” Tears fill her eyes as they slide to mine. “I realized I didn’t deserve your effort when I hadn’t put any in myself. You should be with someone who’s working just as hard to be the best for you. I didn’t want to be the disappointment that caused everything to crumble. I’ve been inconsiderate and stubborn during all of this, and I’m sorry.” Her voice cracks on the last word as she hurriedly swipes her cheeks.
Words escape me. When I came in here, I was prepared to give my best pitch for why we should be together. Make her see how right we are. The notion that the woman of my dreams isn’t good enough for me is nonsensical. She’s apologizing, while my focus is solely on how much I’ve missed being this close to her.
She purses her lips and shifts her eyes to the floor, dropping my hand. “If you’re done with me, I get it. I’m still a damn mess, and I won’t blame you if you don’t want to put up with it.” Her voice shakes as she nervously smooths out her dress. Those beautiful brown eyes look so distressed, it breaks me.
I reach out and tug her back to me. “I’m not done with you, honey bear.” My thumb travels across her freckled cheekbone, and I savor the feeling of her skin against mine. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. “As long as I’m breathing, I’ll never be done with you. With us . Life without you, even for a month, has been absolute hell.” Her jasmine essence wraps around me as I rest my forehead against hers and breathe her in. I’ve fucking missed this . “I adore you, Ashlie. Everything about you lights me up inside. Your kindness, the sassy way you challenge me, and God, your smile. You wreck me with that thing.”
She bites her timid grin, giggling when I tug her lip free with a gentle thumb. “That’s the one,” I say, smiling back. “Ash, when I tried to tell you I love you, what I should have said was you’re the first thought I think in the morning. You’re the one I want to tell everything to throughout the day, and the last face I see in my mind when I close my eyes at night. My dreams start and end with you because you’re my wildest dream come true. You’re the vibrancy to the bleak, the beauty to the mundane, and the light to all my shadows. You’re everything to me.”
Tears drip from her eyes as I cup her face in my hands. She opens her mouth, squeaking softly when no words come out.
“If you don’t feel the same way, just say the word. I’ll walk out of here and pretend like nothing from the past few months happened. It’ll hurt like hell, but I’ll do that for you if it’s what you really want. I’ll always be here for you. Always .” I graze her nose with mine, air stuttering from my lungs as the adrenaline settles. “But if there’s any part of you that wants this—wants me— please tell me.”
I close my eyes then, unable to bear the look in hers if she says no. My thoughts spiral the longer we stay like this, but I can’t let go of her. Not yet. Not ever. Not unless she asks me to .
Her tears trail slowly over my thumbs, and I open my eyes as she squeezes hers shut. “I want to fail with you,” she says, followed by a long, shaky exhale. My heart stalls as I search her face for clarity. “I want to fail over and over, until we get it right, because you scare me, Hunter. In a good way… In the ‘I love you too’ way…”
When I press my lips to hers, my world eases back into focus. A world where the driving force is, and always will be, her. I can’t get enough, pulling her tightly against my body as I wrap my arms around her. The separation was torturous, but her warmth seeps into me, thawing the desolate remnants of every day we’ve spent apart until the only thing that matters is right here and now.
I rest my forehead on hers and drink in everything she is. “I want all of you, Ashlie. Your fear and everything else. For now, for always, forever. I don’t ever want to know a life without you in it.”
The soft pressure of her lips as she brushes them against mine once, twice, and lingering a third time has me sighing into her. “I want all of you too,” she whispers. “Just you.” Her hand cradles my face, and I lean in to her touch. “I’ve missed you.” She smiles up at me, completely shattering all my worries as she nuzzles my nose.
“You have?” I’m pretty sure there are tears in my eyes, but I don’t give a damn. I’m so fucking happy right now.
“So much. Your kindness, your confidence, your heart. You’ve always considered my happiness, even when I was too stubborn to consider yours. You’re my safe place, Hunter, and I’ve missed everything about you.”
Finally . I kiss her forehead, her left cheek, then her right, her nose. She giggles when my smile meets hers, and I dive into the one thing I’ll never get enough of. With each tug of her lips, Ashlie’s love seeps into me, a refiner’s fire transforming my own into a river of pure devotion that flows only to her.
“No more leaving?” My voice cracks as I whisper through my vulnerability.
Pressing another peck to my lips, she gives a coy smile. “No more.”
This shimmery lightness inside makes up for everything that led us here. Every ex, every bet, every misstep was worth it just to end up in this moment. I would redo it all if it meant getting back my everything—my sunshine.
I’ve only been to a couple of weddings, but I’ve never been a fan. The tears, the cheesy vows, the lovey-dovey PDA. Everyone seems to embrace it just from being near a bride and groom, but it all makes me want to gag… Made me want to gag . Past tense. Since I’m standing here on Crystal Beach with a goofy-ass smile, staring across the aisle at the one who holds my heart. Her curls dance around her face with the breeze, the sun glistening off the sea glass, and only one thought crosses my mind. She’s finally mine . I catch her eye, and she smiles back at me. Every single thing I’ve ever criticized about weddings makes sense now.
Chase’s sniffling snaps me out of Ashlie’s hypnotic pull, and Trevor bumps my arm from behind, handing me a tissue. The guests laugh when I make a show of dangling it in Chase’s face. He dabs his misty eyes as I give his shoulder a reassuring clap.
The music switches from a light waltz to an intentional march. Everyone turns in their wooden chairs as Dad and Kayla appear at the end of the wooden plank aisle. The champagne fabric draped across the wedding arch flutters around us wildly. Chase loses it, blubbering like the love-sick fool he is. Desperately trying to wipe his face, he turns around, struggling to regain his composure.
“Naw,” I say. “This is the part you want to remember. That smile on her face is just for you.”
He nods, turns back around, and loses it all over again from the way his bride beams at him. Dad hands her off to Chase, and she reaches up to wipe the tears from his cheeks, which does nothing to stop the downpour.
I can’t say I’ll ever display this amount of unbridled emotion in front of a crowd, but when I slide my eyes back to Ashlie’s giant smile, I get it. For the first time in my life, I get it.