Chapter 30 #2
“If you ever try this Machiavellian bullshit to play with my head instead of talking to me again, no amount of your self-control will matter. We’ll be done. I’ll burn every bridge from me to you with so much gasoline, the fire will burn long after we’re dead. Do I make myself clear?”
“I…” I what? What can I say to that? “I’m just worried. That’s all. I’m scared for you.”
The lines around her eyes soften fractionally. “I understand that, but I also cannot take on your feelings about my life. I’m doing the best I can to handle my own shit, okay? I promise you though, I’m working on myself. You either have to accept that or leave me the hell alone.”
She doesn’t wait for me to answer, and it’s a good thing because anything I say now will end in a fight I don’t want to have with her. Leaving Savvy now would shred all the pieces of my heart that’s only just begun blooming for her.
And now I sound like a fucking Heartmark card.
I want to take care of her, and because of that, I will accept a hell of a lot—there’s simply no other choice.
With a silent curse, I join the girls at the table.
“Sorry,” I mutter. It’s the best I can do. “Let’s get to the questions, okay?”
Madi nods, but the lines between her eyebrows are more prominent than they were when she first sat down.
Clover is the only one smiling, which makes me wonder how much she already knew about Savvy. It’s the quiet observers who cause the most trouble sometimes.
Savvy sits in silence, eating—slowly, but eating.
“Yeah,” Madi agrees. “We’ll do rapid-style questions, Savvy. Just give the first answer that pops into your mind.”
Savvy nods, and I pull my MacBook closer.
“Crowded or intimate?” Madi asks.
“Intimate.” There’s no hesitation in Savvy’s reply. It has me leaning in closer, craving this vulnerability, the unfiltered version of her.
“Night or day?”
“Night.”
“Dinner or coffee?”
Savvy’s gaze lands on mine—a missile hitting its target. “Dinner.”
“Fancy or casual?”
“Casual.”
Madi’s smile widens. “Beach or mountain?”
“Beach.”
“Indoor or outdoor?”
“Outdoor.”
“Sailboat or rollercoaster?”
Savvy taps her chin with her pointer finger. “Sailboat.”
“Hot or cold?”
“Hot.”
The sound of my fingers hitting keys fills the silence until I finish typing Savvy’s final response.
“Okay, Grey. Your turn. Close your eyes,” Clover says.
I scowl at her for three long seconds, then begrudgingly follow her command.
“Picture yourself and Savvy together.”
That’s easy. Every damn time I close my eyes, visions of her rise like smoke.
“Now,” Madi says. “Build the perfect date in your mind and tell us what it looks like.”
Salt air.
Ocean breezes.
Private chef.
“The perfect date would be at a small private bungalow on the beach.” My voice is low, hesitant. It’s a weakness I force out with a cough. “The ocean would be calm and crystal clear, with a slight breeze that sways the empty hammock.”
The muscles in my neck release the vicious hold they always have on me as I fall deeper into the fantasy. It’s so real, I can almost taste the salt air on my lips.
“We’d have a private chef make us dinner. Lobster thermidor for Sav, surf and turf for me. He’s serving us at a table for two right on the beach that has sheer netting to keep any bugs away from Savvy—mosquitoes especially like her.”
My lips split into a smile. “We’re sitting on a raised platform, and all around us is decorated with those stupid twinkly lights and flameless candles so the breeze doesn’t extinguish them, but we aren’t across from each other.
We’re side by side so I can hold her hand as we stare out at the ocean.
She’s on my right because she can’t eat with her left hand, but I make do. ”
Somehow, I conjure the sound of a pop and woosh in my mind—muscle memory kicks in, and it’s as though the bubbles are bursting on my tongue.
“Our waiter opens the champagne and offers Savvy the first taste. It’s a very pale shade of pink because she prefers the slight sweetness of it. It’s…peaceful.”
I tilt my head down as my mind spins the tale in a dirty direction, and I pop my eyes open before it can get out of hand. The last thing I need is to sprout a boner with Savvy’s best friends in view.
Across the table, Madi’s eyes are wide and glassy. Clover’s chewing on her bottom lip, and when I drag my gaze to Savvy, she’s pale and trembling.
“Shit.” I snap my attention back to Madi. Seeing Savvy this way cuts deeply. It’s a knife to the gut that just keeps twisting and turning. “What did I do wrong? What did I say?”
Madi covers her mouth with a shaky hand. “Nothing. You didn’t say anything wrong.”
My neck cracks as I spin and turn from one face to the next. “Then why are you all staring at me as if I just kicked a goddamn puppy?”
Savvy’s chair screeches beside me, and she stands before I can stop her. “Sorry,” she mumbles. “Just…excuse me for a second.”
The short red skirt she’s wearing flows behind her as she rushes from the room.
“What just happened?” I press a fist into my lower belly, hoping the pressure will stop the bleed.
“Well, Greyson Reyes.” Clover’s voice is more confident than I’ve ever heard her. “What happened is that you just described Savvy’s perfect date, right down to the ‘pale-pink champagne’ and hammock.”
“What?” I frown as a headache grows behind my eyes.
“We’ve known Savvy a long time,” Madi says. “We’ve done a lot of dreaming together over the years. Right down to our perfect dates, perfect first kisses, and our perfect happily ever afters. You, my friend, just described her fairy tale.”
My ribs fall into the back of the chair, jump-kicking my lungs into action as though they forgot their only purpose was to pump oxygen to my limbs.
“You know her, Grey.” Clover’s smile is kind and genuine. It makes me hate whatever happened in her past to make her feel as though she has to guard every piece of herself even more than I already did.
“I agree,” Madi says with a small frown. When she looks at me, I find guilt swimming in her irises. “You might know her better than anyone.”
“I want to,” I say. I want to be the man she deserves, and I’m beginning to realize that Moose was right. I can’t do this on my own. “Will you help me?” My focus shifts to the door Savvy walked through—away from me.
Asking for help isn’t easy for me. I don’t even remember the last time I did it, but then again, I don’t remember a time when anything felt as important to my future as Savvy Monroe does.
“Yes,” Clover says.
“What do you need?” Madi is more cautious, but I don’t blame her.
“You said you know all her perfect firsts? Dates, kisses, happily ever after? Tell me how to make them all come true.”
“Mr. Fix-It has a Prince Charming complex too. Who would’ve thunk it?” Slowly, a smile spreads on Madi’s face.
“Not me, that’s for damn sure.” I can’t tear my attention away from the door. “But here I am, at your mercy to get the girl.”