Chapter Twenty-Five #2
It’s a green number, and the skirt twirls anytime she walks. The top of her hair is pinned up as the bottom cascades around her freckled shoulders.
Connor tips his beer in the direction of Thalia, who’s dressed in a black, backless bodycon dress and matching heels.
“I believe the culprit is your sister.” His eyes rake over the satin yellow dress Alana wears, hunger swirling in his irises.
Her dark curls fall around her face as she laughs at something Loxley says, and I see Connor’s hand tighten around his beer.
“Fuck me,” Atlas growls, taking a swig of his drink. “This is torture.”
“You’re telling me,” I mutter as I watch my sister offer the girls another round of shots.
They count down before tossing their glasses back.
Loxley winces at the taste as Addison slings her arm around her friend’s shoulder.
They giggle together, looking tipsy as a new song flows through the club’s speakers.
That guilt rears its head, and I feel bad for keeping this from them.
It’s clear they missed each other, and I’ve never felt like more of an ass.
“Thanks for telling Short Stack,” Atlas says over the music. “I was getting close to caving.”
I chuckle. “It was that bad, huh?”
He nods. “I’ve never seen her so heartbroken, and it made me hate you a little for it. I never want to see her like that again, Rowan.”
“You won’t,” I promise quietly.
“Soooo,” Connor lifts a brow as he butts into our conversation. “What is going on with you and Addison?”
They both stare at me expectantly, and I sigh. “Exactly what you think is going on.”
Connor’s face lights up before he shoves a hand toward Atlas. “Pay up!”
“Fuck both of you,” my brother mumbles before slapping a hundred in his palm.
“You guys seriously bet on Addison and my relationship?” I ask incredulously.
“Yes,” Connor beams.
“No,” Atlas lies before cursing. “You can’t blame us! She looked like she wanted to kill you the last time I saw her!”
“Unbelievable,” I smirk as I shake my head. I go back to watching my girl as she dances, but stop when I feel eyes on me. I look between my brother and friend as they stare at me in astonishment. “What?”
“She’s changed you,” Connor says.
“For the better,” Atlas agrees before his eyes trail to my sister-in-law. “You know… the way you look at Addison is the way I look at Loxley. It’s the same way Connor looks at Alana. And the way Thalia looks at roadkill.”
“Fucking sick,” Connor gags.
An epiphany moment happens as time seems to slow around me.
I get these perfect flashes of Addison in my head—her smile, her anger, and her seated behind my desk as she works—and I realize I don’t want anything or anyone else.
She came into my life like a whirlwind and helped shoulder some of the pain that made life barely tolerable for me.
She saw those nasty scars that dig deep into my consciousness and decided I was worth something past the hard exterior.
She's the only person I was okay with sharing the side of me that still frightens me to my very core. She’s seen it all.
And she still smiles at me as if I’m her favorite person.
It’s been barely a week since we started seeing each other, but it feels like a fucking lifetime. Somewhere in my soul, I feel like I know this woman better than myself.
But I also know I can’t keep her trapped with me. Not if I want her to choose me. Which is why I’m doing all of this. If she chooses to leave, I’m not going to stop her.
No matter how much it will pain me.
I’ll always be there, though. She’s imprinted on my fucking soul and bound to me. There’s no way I’ll willingly let her go, but I can’t trap her if I want her to choose this. To choose me.
“Do you love her?” Atlas asks.
My hand tightens around the bottle I’m holding. “Don’t you think it’s too early for that—”
“For fuck’s sake,” my brother sneers. “I’m not asking my dutiful brother, who seems to think he’s fucking bound by some invisible oath, to be miserable.
I’m asking Rowan Kingsley, the man who drugged and kidnapped a woman to keep her close, if he loves her.
Fuck everything else, Row. For once, stop thinking you have to shoulder this all alone, and answer my fucking question—”
“Yes!” I hiss, slamming my beer down on the counter.
That tether in me snaps as something deranged and desperate claws its way to the surface.
“Yes, I love her. I love her more than anything else in the world. I love her more than our fucked up pasts, and I love her more than any sorry fuck who’s lucky enough to get close to her.
I obsess over her, and I don’t want to let her go! Is that what you want to hear?”
“Is it the truth?” He asks.
“Of course it is,” I breathe deeply before rubbing a hand over my face. “I would do anything for her. Anything.”
My brother nods. “Then don’t let her go.”
“What?” The word slips past my lips, barely audible.
Atlas slings an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t let her go. I thought Jack broke you, man.” My shoulders tense at the mention of our father, but he keeps going. “Addison breathes life into you. I haven’t seen you smile this much since—”
“We were kids,” I finish.
“Exactly,” he mumbles before giving me a hard stare. “Don’t let her go. Take it from me.” He looks across the bar at Loxley, his features softening with fondness as she dances with Alana. “If I could get those lost years back, I would do it in a heartbeat.”
I don’t want a lifetime separating Addison and me.
Seeing the regret in my brother’s eyes is something I’ll never be able to shake.
Atlas can be a cold bastard when he wants, but he warms when he’s connected to Loxley.
She does for him what Addison does for me.
It’s striking to see it happen in real time, but it’s what I need to push myself.
I’m not the best man, but for Addison Bright, I’ll be better.
I’ll do whatever it takes to win her heart the way she’s won mine.
“Now that you two are done crying on each other’s shoulders,” Connor snarks as he holds a bill up to the bartender.
“Can you bring a mojito to the stunning woman in yellow for me?” He cants his head toward Alana, and the bartender smirks before getting to work.
Connor’s smile fades as he turns to us. “There’s a group of guys moving in on our girls. ”
Atlas and I whip around, our eyes zeroing in on the group of assholes eyeing Loxley and Addison like fresh meat.
They’re your average club hoppers with daddy’s money lining their khaki pockets.
A douche in a bright blue polo saunters up to Alana with a smirk before dipping down and whispering something in her ear.
Her head rears as her lips pull down in displeasure.
Connor’s chair scratches across the floor as he stands with a deep scowl etched into his brow. “That’s my cue.”
“I’m going to break that fuckers hand if he touches her,” Atlas bites as he stands. Another polo-wearing jackass is closing in on Loxley, and my brother looks like he’s going to pop a blood vessel.
The bartender saves Alana, handing her the mojito as he tells the other guy to get lost with a dismissive wave. She’s stunned, her head whipping up before relief washes over her when she sees Connor standing across the bar.
“Hey, fuck head!” Atlas shouts over the music. The guy standing in front of Loxley turns, his face draining of color as he takes in the behemoth of a man towering over him. “I think these ladies told you to fuck off once. Don’t make me say it. I’ll break your teeth and watch you choke on them.”
The guy’s mouth moves, but no sound comes out before he dives into the crowd like his feet are on fire.
Loxley places her hands on her hips as she stares up at my brother with a stern expression. I can see her mouth moving as her finger wags at him, and Connor cracks up beside me.
“Oh, he’s done for,” my friend wheezes before Alana deadpans at him across the bar.
“Looks like you’re in for it too,” I laugh as his face falls.
Atlas comes back around the bar, grumbling as he plops down beside me. “She told me I’m not allowed to get up unless she asks me to.”
Connor’s phone vibrates on the counter before he scowls at the screen. “I’m in time out, too.”
My eyes connect with Addison’s as she gives a wicked smirk before sauntering onto the crowded dance floor. I’m up before I can blink.
“Enjoy solitude,” I snark.
“Fuck you,” Atlas grumbles.
“Asshole,” Connor mutters.
I round the bar, almost bumping into Thalia as some tall, lanky guy smiles down at her. “Are you single?” He asks her over the music.
“Very much,” my sister walks her fingers up his chest, and my lip curls before she grabs the collar of his shirt and drags him down to her. “Have you ever seen blood gush from a punctured artery?”
His eyes widen slightly with confusion, and a sweat breaks out on his brow. “N-no?”
My sister brandishes a pocket knife before poking it into the mystery guy’s side . “Do you want to?”
The man’s head whips up, fear crossing his eyes as he mouths ‘help me’ before Thalia drags him onto the dance floor.