Chapter 15 Weston #2
I stood, shaking out my hair. “You couldn’t have left us alone for like…ever?”
Beau grimaced, wiping water droplets off his arm. “Colt and Britt’s barbecue is today, remember?”
My back was stiff as hell as I bent over to pick up the soaked blanket with a grunt.“Yeah, at one.”
“It’s already eleven,” Emmett said.
My head reared back, and I looked up at the sky. Sure enough, the sun was high, the sky a bright, cloudless blue. “Damn. I haven’t slept that late in forever.” How had I not noticed the sun come up?
“Must be nice,” Emmett sighed. “I’m lucky if I get three or four hours tops.” I wasn’t going to say it, but he looked like he hardly slept most days.
“You should do the outreach program once Delilah has it runnin’,” Beau suggested, and I shot him a glare.
“Stay out of the man’s business, Beau.” He was worse than the fucking Whispers.
Emmett didn’t peg me as the kind of guy who wanted everyone speculating about how much his deployments affected him.
It was something we never talked about, but we all knew.
So I knew he definitely didn’t want Beau, of all people, telling him that he needed to get help.
He raised his shoulders. “I’m just sayin’. It might help.”
“I’ve thought about it,” was all Emmett said. Then there was a painfully awkward silence that made me fidget. “I’m gonna go get dressed for the barbecue.”
Once he was out of earshot, I turned to Beau. “Nice, dickhead.”
“We all know he needs the help, Weston.”
I rolled my eyes. “Just because you and Claire are off skipping into the sunset, doesn’t mean you need to shove your happiness onto everyone else and try to fix them.”
His expression hardened. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what I said. I’m going to shower since somebody decided to be a jackass and spray me down with the hose.”
“Looks like I’m not the only jackass today, asshole!” he called after me, and I gave him the bird over my shoulder.
I walked toward the house, water dripping from my hair and boots squelching with every step. I had less than two hours to make myself presentable and try to figure out what the hell that was with Savannah last night.
Colt and Britt lived in a nice two-bedroom in town, the kind of simple place I could see myself living in. There wasn’t anything fancy about it, but it was clear the place was full of love.
The door was open, but no one was inside, so I just followed the sound of Anna and Brittany’s squawking to the back. When I stepped out into the backyard, the smell of smoking meat filled the air, and the chatter of people talking created a low hum.
“Whoa there,” I laughed, sidestepping Henry and Luke chasing after each other as they nearly plowed into my legs.
“Sorry, Westie!” Henry said without stopping.
I watched them run, my gaze skimming over the backyard while I cracked open my beer. I felt like I could breathe again when my eyes landed on Savannah. She was in a light blue top and white shorts, smiling at whoever she was talking to.
The beer can crinkled in my hand when I saw it was Levi she was smiling at.
“Why don’t you just go over there and piss on her leg?” Delilah said next to me, smirking into her beer. “Really solidify your claim.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I groaned, and she snickered. “What is he doing here?”
“Colt invited him,” she said, shrugging a shoulder. I wanted to throttle him for being such a polite, goodie two-shoes. “You are technically related to him, you know. It wouldn’t kill you to be nice.”
It fucking might if he kept making Sav smile like that, how I wanted to.
I glared at her out of the corner of my eye. “Not by choice,” I grumbled. And really, did legal custody agreements bind families after the age of eighteen? Not when it came to him, they didn’t.
“I’m going over there,” I said, unable to stand not knowing what they were talking about anymore.
“…but our campus was so ugly.” Savannah grimaced. “Yours was gorgeous with all that red brick. And the leaves changing in the fall? I bet it was stunning.”
Levi chuckled. “Didn’t feel pretty when I was crying into my laptop at three in the morning during finals week. Did you guys have outlines being passed down like sacred texts, too?”
“Oh yeah,” Savannah laughed, and my fist curled at my side. “Some guys got into a fight over a 1L outline once.”
I didn’t even know what that was and felt stupid for coming over here, for thinking she’d want anything to do with me. But then I remembered what she said outside the firm, all breathless and flustered because of me, that she didn’t want him, and my anger dulled…some.
His eyes went wide. “No way!” he laughed. He did a double-take when he saw me coming over, his smile faltering slightly. “Oh, hey, Weston.”
“What’s up?” I grumbled, hovering next to Savannah. When I stepped beside her, her body shifted closer to me. I wasn’t sure she noticed it, but I did.
“We were just talking about the zoning suit and got to reminiscing about college days,” Levi explained, and I wanted to kick him in the shin. It was stupid and childish, but I didn’t care. I hated that they had so much in common when I had nothing but the past to share with her.
I glanced at Savannah, and she was staring into her drink, her mind somewhere else. Look at me, I begged her silently, but she didn’t.
“Did you go to college?” Levi asked to fill the awkward silence.
My body went rigid, feeling defensive. Not all of us could run off to Ivy League schools, and I was getting ready to say that when I felt Savannah’s arm brush mine as if she were silently reining me in.
I cleared my throat. “No. I went straight to work at Circle M,” I said. “Then got picked up by Pbr when I was twenty.”
“Oh, nice,” he said, and I couldn’t tell if he thought he was better than me for it or not.
“How’s your family?” I asked with a pointed look.
“Weston, please,” Savannah sighed.
Levi shifted on his feet. “They’re fine,” he said. “The ones I speak to regularly, anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, getting ready to call his bluff, but there was a loud clanking sound coming from closer to the house.
“Hey!” Colt called out, standing on a lawn chair and banging a pair of tongs on his beer bottle. My head tilted. He wasn’t the type to draw attention to himself like that.
“Show us your tits!” Delilah yelled, and there was a ripple of laughter as he flipped her off.
“I have something to say,” Colt started, and then Britt appeared at his side, grinning.
I shifted on my feet. What the hell was this?
“We asked you all here because…” He looked down at Brittany, his smile widening, and my stomach dropped.
“Because I asked the love of my life to marry me and she said yes.”
My breath hitched in the back of my throat. Everyone’s cheers and claps became muffled as I was thrown back to the past, knowing the happiness they felt right now. Except, unlike Colt’s, mine was ripped away.
Savannah turned, looking at me with wide eyes. And in that moment, I was furious with her. Furious with her for taking that happiness away from me. Us.
And I was so jealous, I thought I was going to be sick with it.
But I couldn’t do anything about it, so I forced a smile on my face and gave my best friend a hug. “So happy for you,” I said, clapping his back.
And I turned to Brittany, pulling her into my arms. “Congrats, Britt.” I broke the hug. “Might need to check you into the psych ward, though. You sure you wanna stare at his ugly ass forever?”
She grinned up at me, eyes shining with joy that twisted my stomach into knots. “Lock me up, cause there’s no one else I’d rather spend forever with.”
I knew that feeling, knew it well, and hoped to have it again one day. I gave her a soft smile. “And that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
“We’re having an official engagement party next week with the town, but we wanted to tell y’all first,” Colt said, his arm around Brittany’s waist.
We spent the rest of the afternoon celebrating, and I was determined to have fun despite my feelings. Today wasn’t about me; it was about Colt finding the happiness he deserved.
At around eight, Delilah stood from her lawn chair a little clumsily. Pretty sure she was two or three drinks away from hammered. “We should go out!” she yelled. “To celebrate Colt and Britt and get our minds off those Hollis pricks.”
“Delilah!” Tess gasped, looking mortified, from where she sat next to Levi.
Delilah turned away from them, giving us an ‘oh shit’ look. “Oops. You’re okay, I guess, L-dog.” I snorted. Yeah. She was wasted.
Levi laughed. “Thanks, I think?”
I looked at Savannah next to me on the loveseat. “You wanna go?” A part of me wanted her to say yes purely based on what happened last time we were there, but another part wanted her to say no, so I could take her home and keep her to myself.
She shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”
I guess we were going to the Bull Pen then. I didn’t know what would happen, but I knew damn well what I wanted.