Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Linc stared at his phone for the hundredth time in the last couple of hours. Britt had hearted his text message. Hearted. No reply back. She just marked his comment with a heart and left it at that.
Guess a heart is better than a thumbs up.
What the hell was happening to him? He’d been checking his phone like an addict looking for his next fix every five minutes since he’d sent her the damn text.
How could she just heart it?
Ever since Lacey had gone home, Britt had started mentioning moving back to her place, and it scared the hell out of him.
He’d be miserable. He knew it. He’d miss climbing into bed with her and waking up next to her.
Miss being able to talk to her without having to call her on the phone.
Unloading the dishwasher together. Fighting over the TV remote, though he always let her win.
He’d even miss the damn toothpaste blobs in his sink.
In summary, he’d be a wreck. Demolished by his Southern ray of sunshine being taken away.
“Jesus. ‘Southern ray of sunshine?’ What the fuck’s wrong with me?”
I love her.
As a friend, he always had, but now? Now he loved her like his life depended on it, which was exactly how he felt. He needed her in his life. Not just as a friend… as his. Plain and simple.
He huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, goddamn simple.”
The doorbell rang, and he nearly dropped the can of Coke he’d just popped open. Maybe it was Zana.
He glanced at his watch before practically sprinting to the front door. She’d hearted his text at eleven-oh-six. It was now quarter after two. Maybe dress fittings took four hours? Zana had told him the appointment was at ten, but damned if he knew what would take so long.
Yanking the door open, his face fell when he was met with red hair instead of blonde.
Fuck.
“Jeez, way to make a girl feel wanted,” Emery scolded as she pushed past him into the house. “Next time, try saying hi instead of grimacing."
“Sorry.” He closed the door and followed Em into the kitchen. She was already browsing in his fridge.
“Do you have any Coke?” she asked.
Linc pointed to the open can on the kitchen counter. “Last one.”
“Perfect.” She smiled and took a drink. “We can share.”
“Perfect,” he echoed on autopilot.
“Damn, hubby. Who popped your balloon?” When he cringed at the moniker, she corrected herself. “Oops. Guess I probably shouldn’t call you ‘hubby’ anymore, huh?”
“Probably not.”
“Okay…” Em put the can of soda down and hopped onto the counter next to it. “We need to talk.”
Damn. What was it about that line that struck fear into the hearts of men? He and Em weren’t even dating, yet he was suddenly on edge. “About what?” he asked carefully.
“You and Britt.”
Tension kicked him right in the gut. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the opposite counter. “What about us?”
“Hmm.” She waved her hand up and down encompassing his body. “Defensive posture and I haven’t even asked any questions yet.
“You been listening to Gage again?” he countered. Yeah, he was defensive. It was never good to be on the receiving end of Emery’s scrutiny. Especially when you had something to hide.
“Only when I want to,” she sassed.
Ain’t that the truth? Emery never did anything she didn’t want to.
“But crossed arms does mean you’re on the defensive.”
“Or that I just wanted to cross my arms.” He watched as she took another drink of his Coke. “That’s my last one, you know.”
“So you said.” She smiled brightly. “It’s sweet of you to share.”
“Right.” He wasn’t in the mood to be social—you know, after only being hearted—unless she’d heard from Britt.
“How did the dress fitting thing today go?” he asked, knowing damn well Em hadn’t been there.
Britt had already told him Jess and Em had their last fittings yesterday. Still, maybe she’d heard something.
She pursed her lips. “Defensive and deflecting. Interesting.”
“I’m not deflecting.” Yeah, I am.
“But you are defensive.”
“Em…”
“I tried mine on yesterday.” She leaned to the side, opened the cupboard behind her, and pulled out a box of cereal.
Flicking the top open, she reached in for a handful.
“Today was just Britt, Skye, and Laurel.” She started separating the marshmallows from the oat pieces, placing them on the countertop in a colorful pile.
“I wanted to go see Laurel’s dress, but I had to record those spots this morning. ”
Aside from their morning show, Linc and Emery were often hired to do commercial spots for the radio. He remembered Em telling him yesterday about the one for that laser hair removal place she was doing.
She left the marshmallows on the counter and dumped the oat pieces back into the cereal box.
“Someone else might want some of those, you know?” He didn’t care if she ate all the marshmallows. They always put too many in anyway.
“Sucks to be them.” Em grinned before tossing a few sugar rainbows and clovers into her mouth and munching happily.
“I know I shouldn’t be hungry, since we just went to lunch, but Skye talked everyone into sushi.
” She scrunched her nose and stuck out her tongue.
It was green from the clovers. For some reason her expression reminded Linc of the face Maisie made whenever she smelled something she didn’t like.
“Laurel and I split an order of California rolls, but I can only do so much seaweed.”
“I know Britt likes sushi. Does Jessa?” Linc asked.
“Jess tolerates it, but Britt wasn’t there.”
“She wasn’t?”
“No. Laurel said she wasn’t feeling well at the fitting, so she decided to skip lunch. Honestly, I thought she’d be here. Isn’t she?”
Zana’s not feeling well?
“No. She’s not.”
Where the hell is she?
“Huh. Well, maybe she had something else to do and didn’t want to hurt Laurel’s feelings,” Em guessed. “Has she called you?”
“No.”
“Check your phone. Maybe she texted you.”
She hearted me.
He’d checked it right before Emery showed up, but he did it again with the same result. “No text. No call.”
Where is she?
“Laurel said she wasn’t feeling well?”
“Don’t freak out. I’m sure she’s fine. When’s the last time you heard from her?”
“She hearted me at eleven-oh-six,” he said without needing to double check the time. He had it memorized.
Em side-eyed him. “She what?”
“Never mind. Should I go look for her?” he asked. “I should go look for her.”
“Why don’t you try calling her first?”
That actually made more sense… if he’d been able to think clearly. “Okay.” He tapped on Britt’s photo in his favorites and listened while it rang. “Straight to voicemail.”
“She’s probably on the phone then.”
Linc shoved a hand through his hair, pulled off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose against the sudden headache splitting his forehead.
“Hey.” Em dropped off the counter and crossed to him. She rubbed his arm a few times before squeezing his forearm. “Don’t worry. If she’s on the phone, I’m sure she’s fine. Maybe Lacey called. You know how that woman can babble.”
He did. He’d endured Lacey’s monologues multiple times while she’d been in town.
Em gulped another swig of his last Coke, so he took the opportunity to check his phone again.
You know, in case he’d missed a text from Zana in the last two seconds.
He hadn’t. Stuffing the phone into his pocket, he looked up to find Emery studying him.
Again. Great. Brows furrowed in total concentration, she was looking at him so intently, he started to feel uncomfortable.
“What?” he asked when she continued to remain silent.
“About talking…”
That’s right. She wanted to " talk.”
“What, Em?” May as well get it over with. “Just spit it out. What do you want to know?”
“You and Britt…”
“What about us?”
“You’re the real deal?”
He hadn’t been expecting that, but he probably should have.
“What are you talking about?”
“It was a little hard to believe when you guys first told us you’d gotten married because you’d never mentioned a word to me about the two of you dating. And you know we tell each other everything.”
Em was right. Usually, they did tell each other everything. Sometimes she shared more than he’d like to know, but they didn’t keep secrets. At least, not until Britt had asked him to keep their marriage quiet.
“You really love her.” It wasn’t a question. “Like love her love her, don’t you?”
“That’s the talk we needed to have?” He’d expected questions about his relationship, but…
“Yes.”
Shit.
“I married her, didn’t I?”
“You’re deflecting again,” she pointed out, deliberately looking at his arms folded over his chest. He didn’t remember crossing them again. “That’s not what I asked.”
No, it wasn’t.
“Do you love her?”
He probably should deny it. Say something flippant about why would he have married her otherwise, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to pretend anymore. “I?—”
His words stopped the instant the front door opened. It felt like he’d been shocked with a defibrillator. When Britt walked in, his heart started again.
“Zana, where’ve you been?”
She looked a little surprised by his tone. He was a little surprised by his tone. He hadn’t meant for it to come out so accusatory. “I…” Her attention switched to Emery when she hopped back onto the counter.
Em gave a little wave before stuffing more marshmallows into her mouth, watching them closely.
Great. Now we’re a matinee.
“I was trying on dresses.”
He knew the way Zan drew out the words, like she was explaining it to a child, was her way of punctuating the fact she’d told him where she was going before she’d left.
“You didn’t answer your phone.” Did that sound proprietorial and maybe slightly unhinged? If it did, he didn’t care.
A flash of…guilt?... lit her eyes, before she averted them.
“I was talking to Dex.”
That’s all the info she offered. What did he expect? He wasn’t her keeper; she didn’t owe him an explanation. Plus, she’d only been gone a few hours. He was well aware he was acting possessive, but he couldn’t help himself. He was possessive when it came to Zana. So possessive, it scared him.
“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Em said after an uncomfortable silence. She hopped off the counter and kissed his cheek. “I’ve got my answer,” she whispered before punching the volume. “Call me later.” She gave Britt a hug. “I hope you feel better.”
As soon as Em closed the door, Linc pulled Britt into his embrace. The scent of her honeysuckle shampoo acted like a balm on his frayed nerves. “Are you okay?” he whispered against her hair.
“Linc, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. It’s just, Em said you told Laurel you weren’t feeling well, and I haven’t heard from you since this morning…” God, I sound pathetic.
He knew he was being irrational. She had only been gone a few hours, and she had hearted him, but damned if thinking something possibly could have happened to her hadn’t made his blood run cold.
“I love you.” The words slipped out before he’d even realized he was going to say them.
“W-what did you say?”
What I should have said months ago.
What he wasn’t willing to deny any longer.
What he meant with everything he was and every breath he took.
“I said, I love you.”