Chapter 16 #2
Gio looked around the restaurant, which was doing a pretty good business but was by no means overly crowded. “This place is packed,” he exaggerated. “Hey, what do you say we get the waiter to pull a couple chairs over and we’ll join you.”
Rafe covered his mouth, quickly trying to pass his laugh off as a cough.
Dana, who really was very nice, looked at him and shrugged like she was game. She was probably grateful there would be someone else at the table to talk to, since he hadn’t been carrying his weight.
Gio, the cocky bastard, didn’t even wait for them to give their approval. He’d already waved the waiter down and requested the chairs. He and Keeley sat down with them, ordering drinks and looking at the menus.
Keeley, a master at first dates, led the conversation throughout the meal, engaging Dana in discussions about their favorite wines, what books they were currently reading, then debating the best-smelling flower—Dana was in the hyacinth camp, Keeley in the lilac one.
Then they told Dana about the renovations they were doing to the mansion, and Keeley pulled out her phone, showing her a bit of one of the videos. Dana asked for the link, promising to watch later.
If Dana thought it was strange that he and Gio were currently making videos together, yet pretended they hadn’t seen each other in a long time, she had the good grace not to mention it.
While the date had felt eternal at the beginning, Rafe was surprised by how quickly the time passed, the four of them enjoying the meal and each other’s company.
Several times, he felt Keeley’s foot brush against his leg. The woman was playing footsie with him…and given his friend’s smoldering looks, he’d say she was teasing Gio the same way.
Near the end of the meal, Dana excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.
“Seriously,” Rafe said, once she was out of earshot. “You crashed my date?”
Gio grinned. “You wanted us to, bro. I mean, you all but drew us a map to the place.”
Rafe rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure I was just making conversation. Is this going to become a thing between the three of us? The date-crashing?”
“Jesus, I hope not.” Gio was rarely without a smile, but there was no mistaking the misery in his tone, the sadness in his eyes. “I mean, dude, I’ll crash as many dates as I have to, but…fuck. I don’t think my heart can take too much more of this. This last week…”
Keeley pointed toward the lobby, where the hostess station was set up. “We were standing near the door for a full five minutes, watching you. This date wasn’t working, Rafe, and you know it. You needed us to crash it.”
Rafe didn’t bother to deny that. It was the truth.
He had proven pretty decisively over the course of the past week that he needed help.
He’d spent the entirety of his adult life letting his mother’s life choices impact his. Watching her run toward love, and ultimately heartache, had taught him to run the other direction.
But Mom had finally seen the disastrous effects of that and she’d made a change. She’d found the strength to kick Rodney out, to do what was best for her, to seek her own happiness—however she could.
What if he did the same? Grabbed what would make him happy.
He’d told Gio and Keeley that he didn’t want love, so he’d pretended what they’d shared was nothing more than lust. Which was total bullshit.
While they’d been careful not to say the words lest they spook him, Keeley and Gio had shown him how much they loved him through a million more meaningful ways.
Gio’s care and attention to remodeling Grandpa’s home, Keeley’s steadfast support as he learned how to navigate his business, the way they cuddled, and laughed, and ate together, and kissed good night.
The way they’d crashed this date.
Jesus. If he couldn’t trust these two with his heart—his best friend and the girl he’d watched grow into a woman—then who could he trust?
So yeah.
He needed them to crash a hell of a lot more than his date. If he hadn’t screwed things up beyond repair, he wouldn’t mind if they’d go ahead and crash his life too.
“I need you,” Rafe said, simplifying Keeley’s assertion, breaking it down to the most, only, essential part. “I just…need you.”
Keeley sucked in a surprised gasp. She reached over and grasped his hand. “Do you mean that?”
Rafe nodded. “Yeah. I do. I really do.”
Gio smiled. “You finally figured it out, didn’t you? Figured out the only place you belong is with us, Rafe. Nowhere else. The three of us…we work. It’s perfect.”
Gio wasn’t exactly yelling, but he was talking loud enough that Dana, who’d returned to the table, heard him loud and clear.
“Us?”
The three of them looked up, probably resembling deer in headlights.
“Dana,” Rafe started, wondering how in the hell he could explain this to her. “Listen, I—”
She raised a hand to stop him. “It’s okay, Rafe,” she said, letting him off the hook easily.
“I just got out of a relationship myself. When you called, I knew I wasn’t mentally ready to put myself back out there.
I just felt like I should. I could tell something was…
not exactly off about the three of you. Just different.
There was a closeness that I didn’t quite get, especially when you pretended you hadn’t seen each other in a while. But I do now. And it’s cool.”
He stood up. “Thanks for being so understanding.”
She smiled. “I think I’m going to let the three of you finish this date without me,” she said, giving Keeley a wink. “You’re a lucky woman.”
“Thanks,” Keeley said sincerely.
Dana and Rafe shook hands, and she said her goodbyes.
“Damn,” Keeley said. “Now I sort of feel bad for crashing the date. She was super nice.”
“She was. But, Keeley…” Rafe said, resuming his seat so he could reach for her hand. He didn’t want to talk about Dana right now. He had too many things to make right. “I’m sorry. More sorry than I can possibly say with words. I never meant to hurt you.”
Keeley blinked rapidly, fighting to keep the tears at bay. “I know that.”
Then he glanced at Gio. “I owe both of you an apology. A big one.”
“Bro—” Gio started, but Rafe shook his head.
“Let me say this, Gio. The last time we were all in bed, well…I heard you, Keeley. After you thought I’d gone to sleep. Heard you tell Gio you loved him.”
“I was afraid of that,” Gio muttered.
“And because I’m an idiot, I thought…” Rafe ran his hand through his hair, unsure how to explain. “I thought you’d waited until I was asleep because you didn’t feel the same way about me.”
“Rafe…I told you the very next day, but—”
Rafe raised his hand, cutting her off. “I know you did. But because I still wasn’t finished fighting this—fighting myself and my own feelings—I didn’t believe you.”
“Didn’t believe me?” Keeley asked, aghast. “Oh my God, Rafe. I love you so much I can barely breathe.”
Rafe smiled, touched by her words. “I was a fool. Working overtime to convince you both that I was only in it for sex.”
“Which we knew that was a lie,” Gio said quietly.
“It was,” he agreed, still addressing Keeley.
Now that he was coming clean, he let all his fears, all his anxieties out.
“But let’s face it, Gio was openhearted and minded, always talking about the future, not afraid to let you see how much he cared about you.
While I’m…Jesus. I’m fucking clueless when it comes to love and relationships. ”
“We can show you,” Keeley said, squeezing his hand. “I wish I’d told you how I felt that night instead of letting you believe—”
“It wouldn’t have changed the outcome,” Rafe reassured her. “I was still in denial. Plus, I’d convinced myself that the two of you are the natural couple. You’re like-minded, compatible.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Gio asked. “Haven’t you ever heard the expression opposites attract? Keeley and I are too alike in some ways, which is why you balance us out.”
Rafe had never considered it that way, but he liked the idea of it. “Gio, in the past, I’ve always walked away. I thought maybe you were expecting—even waiting—for that to happen.”
Gio scoffed, letting him know exactly how crazy that fear was.
“This time was completely different. I know you felt it too. We’ve shared women before, but it was nothing like what we have with Keeley.
You’ve sworn off relationships for as long as I’ve known you, and if I’d grown up watching the shit you’ve seen your mom go through, I might have felt the same way. ”
“I’ve been using my past as an excuse. That stops now.
And while I’ve never seen forever up close and personal, and I sure as shit have never been around a relationship that was perfect, my eyes have been opened.
” He recalled Keeley’s comment that, while she personally had no experience with love, she knew what it looked like because her parents had shown her.
“Because what the three of us have…this is it, isn’t it? ”
Keeley nodded, the tears on her lashes in direct counterpoint to her huge-ass smile. “This is it. I’m sure of it, Rafe. And I’m sorry you spent a single second questioning my feelings for you. I love you,” she said, stressing every single syllable so that there could be no denying her feelings.
He grasped her hand and pulled it to his lips, kissing her knuckles. “I’m in love with you too.”
“Good. Then it’s settled,” Gio said, raising his hand and gesturing to the waiter that they wanted the check. “Let’s go home. I’m horny.”
“Just like that?” Rafe asked.
Keeley shook her head. “Duuuude. You really need to work on your romantic side.”
“I’ll romance the hell out of you, little one. Once we’re naked. This was the longest week of my life.”
Rafe shook his head in amusement, though he didn’t disagree. “Felt like a hundred years.”
“A million,” Keeley corrected.