Chapter 60
Sixty
Daphne
Iwoke up to Brooks watching me.
His eyes were sleepy.
But there was no anger in them.
That’s progress at least.
He sat propped up on one elbow.
Soft light filtered through the curtains.
For the first time in months, I didn’t hate that sunlight. It actually gave me hope.
“Morning,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Morning,” I whispered, stretching my arms before rising up and resting my back against the carved wooden headboard.
He did the same, shifting up the pillows. The warmth of his bare shoulders brushing mine felt so right. So familiar.
“Sooooo …” I dragged the word out in the quiet room.
“Sooooo …” he repeated.
I couldn’t help but nervously laugh.
He did the same, the corners of his eyes crinkling.
“This is awkward.” I pulled the duvet cover a little higher around my chest.
“Awkward conversations make for awkward moments.”
“That’s for sure.”
I stared straight ahead, studying the waves painted on the armoire, suddenly too afraid to face him. “Where do we go from here, Brooks?”
“I have no idea.”
“Is this our final goodbye?”
He hesitated before admitting, “I planned for it to be.”
“Is your plan still the same?”
He stared down at the rumpled sheets between us. “My plan got shattered the moment I saw you standing there on the beach.”
“Please don’t talk in political circles with me. Be upfront with me. Tell me if you’re going back to hating me after you leave this bedroom.”
“I want this. God, I want this more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I just don’t know how.” He shoved a hand through his bedhead hair. “My life … my father …”
I shifted to face him. “But what about you?”
“You plotted to kill him—”
“We already established I didn’t,” I interrupted.
“Shit, sorry.” He shut his eyes for a second. “You know what you did. He’s made it clear you’re not allowed back in the country. He promised you’d never face jail time if you left.”
“What does that mean for us then?”
“I have no idea … I wish there were an easy answer.”
“Nothing has ever been easy with us.”
“That’s for sure,” he muttered.
I looked down at the duvet. “If only it were …” My voice caught. “If only it were as easy with me as it would be with an oil heiress.”
Brooks released a rough, hollow laugh. “If my phone wasn’t drenched from jumping into the ocean, I’d show you our texts.
Rachel and I are nothing. She’s showing up to my father’s events because she wants to sit on the board of her father’s company.
If it looks like she has a good relationship with the presidential family, more members will be okay with it. She’s in love with someone else too.”
He pressed his fist to his heart. “I promise you, Daphne, I haven’t touched her like that.
Haven’t kissed her. Haven’t even fucking thought about it because it’s like I can’t bear the thought of touching someone who isn’t you.
” He cleared his throat. “And what about Cory? He’s been coming to Calira quite often. ”
“Cory is sleeping with Elodie,” I said.
He stared at me in shock. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Damn … Elodie has an attitude, just like yours. We had a little chat on the boat.”
“Elodie has seen me cry every day,” I confessed.
His stare lowered. “I hate thinking about you crying. I hate you hurting. I hate that my family—that I—caused it.”
“I think we both caused each other pain.” Fresh tears burned my eyes as guilt hit me all over again. “I hate myself every day for what I did. For how I ruined us.”
“I can’t ever accept what happened,” he said quietly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with it.”
My stomach dropped.
“But I understand why you did it now.” He held my stare. “And I forgive you.”
My breath caught, my stomach settling some.
“I forgive you, Daphne. That doesn’t mean the trust magically comes back.
It doesn’t mean I’m not still fucking hurt.
But I don’t want to hate you for it anymore.
” His voice softened. “Your father and those other men would’ve figured out a way with or without you.
They took advantage of your anger and lied to you about what they were planning. ”
I nodded because I was finally seeing that more clearly too. It didn’t erase what I’d done. I’d still planted the recorder. I’d still trusted the wrong people. But I’d spent months carrying the entire assassination on my shoulders when they’d never even told me that was the plan.
“I don’t know where we go from here … if there’s even a future for us.”
“I could fight it,” Brooks said. “Tell them you’re my Fawn.”
“I don’t know if it’ll matter.”
“We have to try.” He rested his hand on my knee through the sheets.
“My father hurt your family just as much as your family hurt mine. I’m not saying we’ll be the fucking Brady Bunch in-laws, but I’ll talk to him.
You could’ve destroyed him after the shooting.
You knew about the affair. You knew what he’d done to your mom.
And you still didn’t say anything. You had your chance to get your revenge but didn’t. ”
“I felt so fucking guilty for what I’d done that I never would’ve said anything about your family.”
“There’s a lot of trust to be earned, Daphne.”
I nodded.
“But you’re the woman I love. My Fawn. And if there’s any chance for us, then I’m going to fight for it. Promise me you’ll do the same.”
I slid across the tangled sheets and straddled his lap, burying my fingers in his bedhead hair. “Every single day of my life.”
I hesitantly lowered my head to brush my lips over his.
He tightened his arms around my waist as he kissed me, and for those seconds, the rest of the world disappeared.
We’d both grown up in worlds that made love feel like something people lied about.
Something that belonged in fairy tales, not our families.
I didn’t believe that anymore.
Maybe Brooks and I still had a chance.
But is hope really enough?
Our table was crowded, and a damp breeze rolled in from the ocean. Brooks had one arm stretched across the back of my chair.
We were in a small café overlooking the ocean. The Havens and Sons were with us.
Blair and Enzo were absent, unsurprisingly.
They’d started their honeymoon, hiding out somewhere here in Calira.
After our talk that morning, Brooks and I had spent hours catching each other up on everything we’d missed over the past few months.
For the first few hours, neither of us had our phones, so there was no outside world to interrupt us. Mine had been in my purse on the yacht, while Brooks’s had disappeared sometime between him diving into the ocean and dragging me back to the dock.
Elodie had eventually shown up at my room with mine. She’d rolled her eyes when she noticed Brooks in my room and shot him a stern look before saying, “Remember what I said.”
He’d nodded and given her a thumbs-up.
When I’d finally checked my phone, my screen was flooded with texts.
Fifteen of them were from Elodie checking on me before saying she found my phone.
Blair asked if I was okay. Seraphina had wanted to know if I was hooking up with Brooks while Gemma asked if Brooks had murdered my ass.
Looking around the table, I smiled.
I loved my friends, loved our chaotic times together, and hoped I wouldn’t lose that again.
Brooks was still phoneless. I secretly loved that because it meant we were giving each other our undivided attention. It meant he wasn’t seeing news articles about what was happening in the States.
We still had nothing figured out, but for tonight, that was okay. We’d decided to leave our problems at the castle gates, have dinner with our friends, and simply enjoy being together.
“Ladies and gents, we have a problem,” Nico announced. “Another Son has fallen into the dark world of falling for his Fawn.” He shook his head. “Fucking tragic, man.”
“Hater,” Brooks grumbled, dropping his arm from the chair to my shoulders before pulling me closer.
We were out in public, acting like a real couple, but we were also in Calira.
Not in the States. Not in the real world for him.
I had no idea what would happen when he went back because as much as I’d love for him to stay in Calira with me forever, that wasn’t realistic.
When we arrived together, no one asked a million questions.
Nico’s comment was the first mention of Brooks and me reconciling. I loved that they didn’t want to make it awkward between us while we were working things out.
“Maybe next time, select a Fawn you actually like,” Brooks told him.
Nico lifted his wineglass toward us. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you saying there wasn’t a time when you two couldn’t stand each other?”
Brooks glanced at me, and I fought back a smile.
“That’s exactly why you have to be selective.” Cedric leaned back in his chair while smirking.
“Speaking of that, you three …” This time, Nico motioned his glass toward Cedric, Emeri, and then Cassian before making a wide circle with it. “You need to get your Fawns chosen. It’s the rules. If you guys are making me keep mine, then I’m making you motherfuckers get yours.”
“There’s no one on my radar,” Cedric said. He picked up his phone, his thumb already scrolling, as if suddenly bored with this conversation.
“Aren’t you guys changing some of the rules?” Adelina asked over the rim of her appletini. “Why not just say if you don’t want a Fawn, then you don’t have to get one?”
Cassian leaned over and tapped the top of her head. “Let’s let the Havens make the rules from now on.”
“The Elders would never okay that,” Cedric said. “It’s part of the Son experience. It’s our duty. Unfortunately.”
“Hey!” Nico threw up his arms. “Any of you can gladly have mine.”
“Why do you hate her so much?” Gemma asked him while fussing with her hair.
“She calls me non-fucking-stop,” he answered, slumping back in his chair with a dramatic groan. “She wants to make me cookies all the time like she’s fucking Martha Stewart.”
“You’re complaining about that?” Seraphina asked in disbelief. “That’s your actual issue with her?”
“Among other things.” Nico signaled to the server for another refill.
Seraphina rolled her eyes while muttering something under her breath.
Gemma tossed a crumb of her bread, hitting him in the forehead.
“Men,” Adelina muttered, pointing her fork in his direction before waggling it.
Cory wisely stayed out of the Fawn conversation.
I threw my head back and laughed. When I lowered it again, I caught Brooks watching me with a genuine smile.
A smile I’d convinced myself I’d never see again.
A smile that made me believe we’d be okay.
That he’d fight for me.
That maybe we still had a chance.
I smiled back. The setting sun caught in his blond hair, making him look annoyingly perfect.
But this perfect man was mine now.
Well, if we could work out all the crazy logistics.
The conversation shifted to the wedding, then Saint Vale, then whatever random topic Nico decided to complain about next.
After we devoured our desserts, I looked over at Brooks. “I guess it’s my turn to see what your rental looks like.”
His lips curved into a slow smile. “I love that idea.”