Chapter 5
HARLOW
The house was too quiet. I hated it, but this was the new normal.
Jax and Kaia lived in the pool house until after the wedding, and then they moved.
Trystan treated the house like a hotel he occasionally remembered existed.
That left Syn and me here pretty much alone.
Except lately, Syn had mastered the art of vanishing, too.
I should be studying. Professor Stambaugh’s surprise daily quizzes had stopped being a surprise around week two, but I’d barely gotten through half of this week’s material.
Every time I tried to focus, my traitorous brain shifted from supply and demand to Owen, and how freaking good he looked the other day with his infuriating smirk.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to remember anything I could from that drunken night, but everything stayed stubbornly fuzzy.
I dragged my eyes back to the textbook, determined to focus. “The law of diminishing returns states that…” The sentence evaporated before I could finish it, replaced by the memory of how he looked at me, like he had X-ray vision.
This was ridiculous. I pressed my palms against my temples hard enough to hurt.
“Hey.”
My head snapped up so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.
Kaia stepped up to the table, glancing at my textbook. “What are you doing?”
“Studying. Or pretending to study. Same thing at this point.” I slammed the book closed with more force than necessary. I was grateful for the interruption. “But I could definitely use a break. How are you feeling?”
She melted into the chair across from me with a heavy sigh. “A little better today.”
Kaia was a few months pregnant, and it was waging war on her digestive system.
“Everything ready for this weekend?”
Her gaze drifted to the window, where the rain was tapping lightly against it. “Yeah. I hope it goes smoothly.” When she looked back at me, something anxious flickered behind her eyes. “I want it to be perfect.”
“The rain should clear up by Saturday,” I offered, trying to reassure her.
“Rain would suck, but I’m more worried about conflict this weekend.”
My stomach dropped. “What? Why would there be any conflict?”
She lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug that tried to be casual and failed. “I don’t know. There’s... a lot of tension between Trystan and Owen, and I’m hoping it doesn’t all explode before the wedding.”
My chest constricted like someone had wrapped steel bands around my ribcage.
“There’s already enough awkwardness when the three of them are in the same room,” she continued, oblivious to my sudden inability to breathe normally. “Who knows what’ll happen if something actually blows up before then.”
I leaned forward and reached for her hand, probably squeezing too tightly. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be perfect. I promise.”
Her smile was small but genuine. “You’re right. I’m probably overthinking it.”
The garage door burst open, and we both whipped around to see Owen walk in.
Our eyes locked.
Time did that annoying thing of slowing down and speeding up at the same time, and I forgot how to perform basic respiratory functions.
“What are you doing here?” Kaia’s smile was pure innocence.
Please don’t be here to see me. Please don’t be here to see me. Please don’t…
“I’m meeting Jax,” he said, still holding my gaze hostage.
I forced myself to look away before Kaia noticed we were having some kind of weird staring contest. Very smooth, Harlow.
“We’re picking up the tuxes,” he added.
“He’s not home yet, but he should be here any minute.” Kaia pushed herself up from the chair. “Harlow can keep you company while you wait. I’m feeling queasy, so I’m going back to bed.”
No. No, no, no. Kaia. KAIA.
But she was already gone, leaving me alone with Owen like she’d tossed a lit match into a room full of gasoline and walked away whistling.
Owen claimed her abandoned seat.
“We need to talk,” I whispered, leaning forward like we were plotting a heist.
“Oh God, what now?”
The exasperation in his tone should have annoyed me. It definitely didn’t make my heart do anything weird.
“You can’t break up with Cam right now.” I pitched my voice low enough that it barely qualified as sound. “And you definitely can’t tell her about…”
His brows crashed together. “Why not?”
“You need to wait until after the wedding.”
“Why?”
“Think about it.” I gestured vaguely at everything. “Tensions are already nuclear, and we don’t need to add relationship detonation to the mix. I just…I don’t want this to ruin their wedding day.”
He studied me, something shifting in his expression. “So we wait until after the wedding, when they leave for their honeymoon, and by the time they get back, we’ve all miraculously worked out our shit?”
I nodded.
“I’m not sure how to do that.” He ran a hand through his hair, frustration bleeding into every syllable. “Things are already so awkward between Cam and me…”
“You’ve been…”
The door opened.
The words died in my throat.
“Jax,” Owen practically yelped, rocketing out of his chair like he’d been electrocuted. The guilt radiating off him could have powered a small city.
“You ready?” Jax asked, checking his phone. “We’re running late.”
Owen nodded, then glanced back at me. The look lasted maybe three seconds, but felt like an eternity, heavy with everything we weren’t saying. He nodded again, some kind of silent agreement passing between us, before following Jax out.
The door clicked shut behind them.
I dropped my forehead onto the table with a dull thunk.
“Fuck!”