Chapter 28
Tai
Connor’s voice fades into the background as I storm from the bathroom into the main area of the jet. The bathroom door crashes against the wall, and every eye in the cabin slams into me. My eyes lock on Eric’s, and I head straight for him.
His brows pinch, his expression a mix of confusion and concern. “Tai, what—”
My palm cracks against his cheek, the impact echoing with a distinct smack as his head snaps to the side. His hand flies up to cover the spot, eyes huge and mouth sagged open.
Dmitri charges from his seat and shoves my shoulders hard, knocking me back a few steps as he positions himself between me and Eric.
Connor coils his arms around my waist and yanks me behind him as he squares up to Dmitri.
Both of them are furious—chests pushed out, nose to nose, and on the verge of snapping.
“What the fuck?” Dante shouts. He runs to wedge himself between the two of them, then throws a palm on both their chests and forces them apart.
Eric hasn’t looked away from me, his gaze darting around my face in an attempt to read me.
“You had no right,” I bellow, jabbing a finger in his direction.
I try to dodge around Connor, but his arm is locked tight around my middle.
“Meddling son of a bitch, you had no fucking right to make that decision for me!”
Dmitri and Connor stand their ground between us, snorting at each other like a couple of bulls about to charge.
Eric rubs his cheek and shakes his head. “What the hell, Tai?”
“You can’t just stay out of shit, can you?” I snarl. “You can’t just mind your own goddamn business!”
“What did I do?” he demands.
“Don’t act like you don’t fucking know. You answered my phone… took away my fucking choices and then didn’t even tell me?!”
Uncertainty bleeds into guilt on his face. “You were hurting, Tai—”
“That wasn’t your call to make. It was mine.”
His eyes are pleading as he shakes his head, pushing his fingers through his hair. “You didn’t see yourself or how I found you,” he says. “You scared me, Tai. I had to do something.”
“All you had to do was be there for me!” I spit, my face and neck flaming. “Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through because of you?!”
“No, I don’t, because you won’t tell me,” he stresses, then rakes his fingers through his hair again, more agitated this time. “Why is this coming up now? How do you…” He trails off as his eyes drop to Connor’s arm around my waist.
Surprise crosses his face. “Wait.”
He places a hand on Dmitri’s shoulder, and they meet eyes before Dmitri takes a reluctant step aside. Connor tenses as Eric moves closer with his eyes narrowed, while Dante remains in the middle, his attention darting between all of us as he tries to make sense of the situation.
“It was you,” Eric snarls.
Connor doesn’t say a word, just lifts his chin in challenge. Eric’s a big guy, but Connor dwarfs him in height and bulk. Eric’s undeterred, though, as he steps closer, forcing Dante to hold him back.
He stares Connor down, jaw set and nostrils flared. “You’re the son of a bitch that broke his heart.”
“What?!” Theo, Dante, and Monica say in unison, while Dmitri openly gawks.
Eric’s eyes are wild as they land on mine. “You were destroyed, man. The way I found you… Tai, come on. I was looking out for you, brother. You know I was doing it for your own good.”
“It still wasn’t your choice!” I shout.
He flinches before he throws his hands toward Connor. “He wasn’t going to give up! Was I supposed to just let him keep calling you? Keep fucking hurting you!?”
“Yes!”
“He’s the one who hurt you, not me,” he argues. “He left you, and he was fucking married—”
“No, I wasn’t,” Connor interrupts with a quiet calm. “I’m not.”
“What?” Eric demands.
Connor’s arm loosens around my middle, but he doesn’t let go. “You were wrong. It was a misunderstanding.”
“One we could’ve figured out,” I say. “One we could’ve talked about as adults if you hadn’t gone behind my back. You treated me like a fucking child! Blocking his number, and not even bothering to tell me he called. This was my choice. Not yours.”
Eric jolts as if I punched him, and Dmitri catches him by the arms to steady him. “But…” His gaze flickers between mine and Connor’s. “Fuck!” he screams, sinking into his chair and looking dazed. As Dmitri takes a seat beside him, the tension shifts, and both Dante and Connor visibly relax.
Eric’s eyes land back on Connor. “You still left him. You still fucking hurt him.”
“I know,” Connor says quietly.
“I don’t think you do,” Eric counters. “I don’t think you have any fucking idea. In the years Tai and I have been friends, I’ve never seen him like that—”
“Eric,” I interrupt.
The rare assertiveness in my voice stops him short, but his jaw tenses and his teeth grind with his underlying frustration. My anger recedes as he slumps forward, head sagging between his knees. I sidestep around Connor.
He grabs my hand, holding me back, but when I meet his eyes and shake my head, he releases it. Dmitri watches me closely as I approach, but doesn’t move.
A heavy exhale leaves me as I kneel in front of Eric. “I know you had good intentions, but you can’t just do that shit, man.”
His eyes shine as he glances up at me. “You have every right to be pissed. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway.”
“And you’d do it again, wouldn’t you?”
His shoulders bounce with a small, sad laugh. “To protect you? You bet your ass I would. I couldn’t stand seeing you so upset, and I will never apologize for looking out for you.” He shoots a furious glare at Connor. “You aren’t off the hook, either.”
“Eric,” I hiss. “I love you, man, but you have to stay out of this.”
He pulls the inside of his cheek between his teeth, causing the skin to dimple. After a moment of seething, he sighs, nods, and shifts his attention to Connor. “Upset him again and I’ll… well, I probably won’t hurt you, but I’ll fucking try.”
“I won’t,” Connor promises.
“Giant ass oversized motherfucker,” Eric adds in a mumble.
I blow out a quiet laugh, feeling the tension lessen around all of us.
Theo steps forward, completely unfazed by the near-brawl at thirty-five-thousand feet in the air.
“Now that the testosterone cloud has cleared, can we discuss the gay elephant in the room? When the fuck were Tai and Jugs together?” He wanders over and grabs Connor’s arm, smiling up at him.
“I do want it noted that I predicted you were into him before all this went down. I didn’t know you guys were already a thing. ”
“Since when is Jugs into dudes?” Aaron whispers to Bruce.
I cringe as I look at Connor, unsure what to expect. Regret for everything that happened in the past few minutes, or shame for everyone finding out?
Instead, he wraps his arm back around my waist in a hold that’s more possessive than protective. “Since I met this guy at a college buddy’s wedding on the Carolina coast.”
Theo heaves a dramatic sigh. “That sounds like a country love song.”
Dante glances between us, studying each person. “Are we good here?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Connor says. Eric and Dmitri nod in agreement.
A clank of ice rattles as Monica takes a long drag from her drink. “It is always something with you boys,” she mutters, then pours herself a refill.
Connor and I move to the cluster of chairs he was sitting in alone, and everyone is staring. I do my best to ignore the scrutiny.
Connor is not as subtle. “Don’t you all have better things to do?”
Every set of eyes dodges away, with the exception of Theo. He’s utterly unfazed as he leans over the arm of his chair. “I actually don’t have anything better to do,” he says with a flutter of his lashes. “But I have so many questions.”
Dante sighs and shoots us an apologetic glance as he wraps an arm around Theo’s shoulders, tugging him closer. “Let’s give them some privacy, sunshine.”
Exhaustion hits me hard, and I slump into my seat, scrubbing my hands over my face as my head falls back. “I’m sorry,” I mutter into my palms.
“For what?” Connor asks.
I wave in a vague gesture. “That. All of that. It wasn’t my place to announce it to the group, and I didn’t mean to out you. I was just so fucking angry.”
His hand circles my wrist and tugs it away from my face. “It’s okay. I’m not upset.”
“You didn’t want anyone to know.”
“Where the hell did you get that idea from?” he asks. “What have I ever done to make you think that I’d hide us from the world?”
Our time at the resort replays in my mind—the way he held my hand on top of the bar table, and how he hovered over me when we were caught kissing. How he’s openly tried to talk to me since we were reunited.
“Nothing,” I answer after a pause.
He nods, tracing a fingertip over my knuckles. “I’d never be ashamed of you, Tai. If we were together, I’d show you off to anyone who looked our way. I would be so proud to call you mine.”
“You and that sweet talking,” I tease, though my voice is tired.
He flashes me a small smile as his gaze slides over my face and higher. “Can I ask you a question?” He waits for me to nod before he continues. “Why did you cut your hair?”
“Because it reminded me of you,” I answer honestly. “The night that I called and spoke with your wife—”
“Ex-wife,” he stresses.
“Right,” I huff. “Well, that night, I kind of… snapped.”
His eyes soften, fingers twitching like he wants to reach for me. I slide my hand into his and he laces our fingers together. Suddenly, all those broken pieces fit together with no gaps and no funny edges—just connection.
I squeeze his hand and finish my story. “After I talked to Beth, the memory of your hands in my hair was too much. I kept thinking about how much I missed feeling it, and how much I missed you. When Eric came to get me at the studio, I’d cut it all off.”
“Sweetheart,” he whispers, his hand tensing in mine.
“It’s why he’s so emotional about this. I’m not excusing what he did, but I was pretty messed up when he found me.” Suddenly self-conscious, I glance up at him. “Do you hate it short?”
“I hate that I did this to you,” he says with a soft smile. “I hate that you hurt because of me. But no, I don’t hate it. You’re just as gorgeous as you always were.”
He wraps his arm around my shoulders and I lean into him, tucking myself against his chest. It’s quiet for a long time, the conversations around us fading into a dull murmur as the others talk amongst themselves.
“Where do we go from here?” I finally ask.
“Where do you want to go from here? I am at your mercy, Tai, though I won’t pretend I’m not dying to give this another chance.
The past two months of my life have been spent missing you, and…
” He pauses, considering his words before he squeezes me a little tighter. “And I don’t want to miss you anymore.”
“We can’t pick up right where we were. Things were so intense. They moved so fast, and it nearly broke us both. If we want this to work, we need to take it slow. We owe it to ourselves to do it properly. It’s impossible to start over, but we also can’t pretend that we didn’t hurt each other.”
He’s silent for a moment, his expression unreadable.
“Will you say something?” I finally beg.
He smiles then, a serene thing that takes over his face as he leans over and presses a sweet kiss to my forehead. “Sorry. I was distracted thinking about all the ways I can try to win you over… preferably without getting coffee thrown at me.”
A surprised laugh escapes me, and he beams as his eyes dart around my face.
“Do you remember what I told you in our room the night of our first kiss?” he asks.
“There are no expectations. Anything you’re ready to give me, whatever pieces of yourself you’re willing to share—I will cherish them.
As long as you allow me to be a part of your life, I’m happy.
Hell, I’m more than happy. I’m excited.”
Tears blur my vision as he hugs me to him, but he doesn’t comment as one falls.
“There are rules, though,” he says softly.
I sniffle. “Oh, yeah?”
“Complete honesty. If we tell each other anything, it’s the truth.”
A smile curls my lips. “What else?”
“No judgement. Whatever we learn about each other—”
“—we take it for what it is and move on,” I finish.
He hugs me tighter, and presses a soft kiss to my head.
“That’s right. Now that we’ve gotten the formalities out of the way…
” He pulls back to meet my eyes. “My name is Connor Jennings, and my jackass friends call me Jugs because they say I need a bra. I own a boxing gym, I have a sugar addiction, and I’m a little crazy about you. ”
The first genuine smile that I’ve had in months spreads over my face as I peer up at him. “It’s really nice to finally meet you, Connor.”