23. Chapter 23 #2
He leans in closer to Bradley and growls, “You didn’t deserve her.
Alyssa is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
And just because you were too blind to see how amazing she was back then doesn’t mean you get to insult her now to try to make yourself feel better about how badly you fumbled the most beautiful woman in the world. ”
I’m breathless, soaking in every word. Wanting to believe that everything he’s saying is true and not just something to keep up the ruse.
Because it’s been real to me all along, and the clarity in Austin’s tone is starting to make me believe my sister was right. That this might be real for him, too.
“I don’t believe in physical violence.” Austin squeezes my waist as his voice drops even lower. “But if I hear you say another negative word about her, you’ll be sporting a black eye for your wedding. Do we have an understanding?”
Bradley’s face pales. He wouldn’t stand a chance against Austin. Bianca looks thrown off her usual game, probably terrified Austin will follow through on his threat and her soon-to-be husband will have an ugly black eye in all their wedding pictures.
“Whatever,” Bradley says.
“Now say you’re sorry,” Austin hisses, and I bite back a laugh at the scowl on Bradley’s face.
“Sorry,” he mutters.
“For…” Austin draws out the word like he’s teaching a toddler how to apologize.
Bradley rolls his eyes. “For calling you sloppy seconds.”
“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Austin turns to me, his eyes filled with mirth. “You ready, Sugar Lips?”
I nod. “Let’s go, Pooh Bear.” We move around them, leaving them both too stunned to say anything else.
“Can I hold him?” Austin motions to Rhys. “I need a human barrier before I go back there and do something I might regret.”
I let go of Austin’s hand and pass him my nephew. Austin holds Rhys to his chest and reaches back down, taking my hand again like it’s second nature to him.
His touch grounds me in a way nothing else does. And after that whole encounter, I’m feeling more optimistic about the conversation I plan to have with Austin soon.
“Thank you.” There’s so much more I probably should say, but that’s all I can manage for now.
“I wish I could’ve done more.”
“Are you kidding?” I glance up at him. “You were about to punch his lights out.”
“I should’ve shoved him off the cliff.” His grip on my hand tightens. This protective side of him is insanely attractive. “I can’t believe he insinuated that you’re anybody’s second best.”
“It’s Bradley we’re talking about,” I deadpan.
“What did you ever see in that guy, anyway?”
“I was in cosmetology school. He was in law school. We were both busy and didn’t see each other more than once a week.
He took me out to nice dinners and listened to me talk about hair while I listened to the ins and outs of law school.
” I shrug. “He’s the kind of guy who changes himself to be more like the people he’s around.
When we were together, he wasn’t horrible.
” I blow out a breath. “But then he met Bianca and started messaging her behind my back. I wasn’t even that upset when he broke up with me because it was more of a convenient relationship than anything, but it did hurt when he jumped from me to my cousin.
He’s become more like her now, believing everything she says about how they’re better than everyone else because of his family’s status in society.
” I purse my lips. “All that to say, I don’t know that I ever really saw anything in him other than someone to spend time with while all my friends were away at college. ”
Austin’s silence is deafening.
“Go ahead and say whatever it is you’re thinking.”
Austin brushes his thumb along my hand. “I’m sorry you ever felt you had to settle for a relationship like that. You deserve worlds better than him. You deserve—”
“There you two are.” Maddy waves over the crowd of wedding guests.
We weave our way through to her, Elliott, and Crew.
“Cake, zen, back eye, poo lip,” Rhys says as soon as she takes him from Austin.
Maddy looks to me for an explanation.
“He heard Bradley call Bianca ‘baby cakes’ and has been demanding cake ever since. I told him we had to ask you first.”
Maddy looks between our joined hands and smiles. “I should’ve known he’d become a little sugar baby being around you,” she teases, tickling Rhys’s stomach. Then she leans closer to us and whispers, “And zen and black eye?”
Austin’s eyes go wide. I pop my lips. “It’s not really worth mentioning.”
“And do I want to know what a poo lip is?”
I bite back a laugh and shake my head.
Maddy purses her lips and nods. “Great, then let’s find some cake.”
“Me too, Mama?” Crew tugs the hem of her shirt.
“Yes, we’ll all get cake.”
“Now.” Crew grabs his parents’ hands and begins dragging them back toward the resort.
“See y’all later,” Maddy calls.
I let go of Austin’s hand and wrap my arms around my middle. “We should get back, too. I need to shower and get ready for dinner.”
“Of course, but before we do that”—Austin shoves his hands in his pockets—“I know you’re someone who needs time to process things, and I want to give you the space to do that.
But I want to acknowledge that we need to talk.
” He pauses like he’s trying to figure out the right thing to say. “About a lot of things.”
Emotion grips the back of my throat at how well he knows me while my head and my heart resume their battle, trying to think through every possibility of what he might tell me when we talk.
He could say the kiss was a mistake and he wants to be friends.
Or he could explain that everything is blurred now because of our ruse, and maybe it’s best we cut our losses and end our friendship now, since he could be traded at the end of the season.
Or there’s the possibility that he likes me too, and he has a reasonable explanation for why he pointed out Bianca and Bradley after our kiss.
I do my best to shove the thoughts away. Stewing over what Austin may or may not say isn’t going to do me any good. What I need to do is take the night to decide if it’s worth it to lay all my feelings—and my heart—on the line, knowing I could lose him.
“Is it okay if we talk tomorrow?” I ask.
His gaze turns soft as he looks into my eyes. “Tomorrow.” The word sounds like a promise coming from his lips.
And I hold on to that promise for the rest of the night, hoping it will end with us both getting what we want.
All I can do is wish on every palm tree that we both want the same thing.