Chapter Fifty-Two
TYLER
You wanted this, Sunny.
She made it clear what she wants, and that’s to let her go. That’s not a viable option, so this is the alternative. If it pisses her off, so be it. In fact, I hope it does. She doesn’t want me doing this, and I don’t want her doing what she’s doing. Call it even, baby.
Yet, one glimpse at her is almost enough to make me backtrack every single thing I’ve done since the moment she shattered my already broken heart.
The looks on everyone's faces tells me this was not the way to go about this. I know they’d try to talk me out of it. I’m not going to sit through a fucking lecture about what I should and shouldn’t do. It’s my life.
The love of my life is walking out of my life, taking a part of me with her. I know what a great love is now, and I know I’ll never get that again because if it isn’t her, then it isn’t anyone else.
I had the contract ready for Shelby’s father, but then Sunny ended things, and it wasn’t worth the fight anymore because Sunny is the only thing worth fighting for.
So fuck it, right?
Unwillingly, I feel that thread woven deeply in my bones pull my eyes where she stands.
The look on her face is enough punishment as it is.
Dark brows crease, pink lips part, and I watch the very betrayal she feels ripple across her face and body as the defeat of it all decompresses her, weighing on her slumped shoulders and caving her chest in.
I avert my eyes everywhere but her, trying to swallow back the thickness forming in my throat. Maybe it’s for the best, because no person should have a power like this over me.
While she may be my greatest strength, she has proved to be my greatest weakness, too. That’s something I can’t afford.
Still, my eyes move back to where she stands, looking so alone in the kitchen. Gone are the flames of her emotions, and back is the ash of who she is.
The sad girl who refuses to give me anything.
This is what you wanted, Sunny.
SUNNY
He already proposed to her, and he told no one. The looks on everyone's faces is proof of that.
When his eyes meet mine, it’s like the world goes into slow motion. I can’t read a single thing behind those emeralds. Maybe I don’t want to because I’m scared of what I’ll see. The pain I’ve caused.
“Hi everyone!” Shelby smiles big, baring her white, straight teeth. She’s so beautiful on the outside…but the inside.
“Shelby. Wow. What a surprise,” Anthony says.
“I hope we have enough food,” Sam groans in her wine glass.
“There will be enough food,” Tyler snaps.
I hate his defense for her. This is not what was supposed to happen.
“It’s so good to see you all!” Shelby clutches Tyler’s bicep harder. A muscle feathers in his jaw.
“So what brings you here tonight, Shelby?” Cole braces his forearms on the counter next to me. He knows the answer to that question. We all do. That massive ring is indication enough.
“Well…” She looks at Tyler who stares vacantly to nothing in particular.
She nudges him, and I watch the slow roll of his throat as he prepares to say the words he knows all of us are waiting for.
How do we undo this? I was willing to let him go to anyone other than her.
I already know by the ring on Shelby’s finger that it’s happening. But to hear it from Tyler’s lips, that will just make it all the more real. It’ll make it all too real.
“We are getting married,” he says blankly.
“Oh my god. Wow.” Anthony breaks the too loud silence, his sarcasm staining each word.
Shelby jumps up and down and squeals. Hanging her hand out, she shows off the massive rock that’s impossible to go unnoticed. There’s no way Tyler picked that out himself.
I clutch the counter, white knuckling it as I hold back the bile stinging my throat.
“Oh god,” Sam groans.
“Well, this is a shock,” Macey finally speaks.
“It was a shock to me too!” Shelby says excitedly. Clearly not reading the energy of the room, or maybe just not caring.
“How was it a shock when you’re arranged?” Sam asks, but Cole nudges an elbow to her.
“Well, congratulations buddy.” Cole slaps Tyler on the back. “Let’s get you two a drink.”
I still stand at the counter, looking down at the stupid mushrooms. I still haven’t said a word, and I don’t want to. What do I even say?
My breathing becomes heavier as I watch them move towards the room full of shocked people.
Clutching the bottle of wine in one hand, Tyler uses the other to guide Shelby while she holds his bicep with her perfect red manicured nails. The perfect wife on his arm that they wanted for him.
I look down at my own short, un-manicured nails, swallowing hard about the fact I am so unkept while she looks absolutely perfect.
Maybe they do make sense.
I’d thought the moment my body became a canvas for his abuse was the moment I knew heartbreak in its rawest form. This has somehow surpassed that.
He made a promise, and he broke it. The moment we linked our fingers the agreement was set. But much like everything else in my life, it has been broken.
I feel his eyes on me, the weight of those emeralds something I’ll never be able to unknow. When I meet them, I scream internally.
You promised.
A crease of his brows and flex of his jaw makes me almost believe he was able to hear it.
“What do you need from me?” Cole asks, leaning his head into me for a semblance of privacy.
When I came to Boston, I never imagined finding people like this—friends who became my own family. But Cole is Tyler’s brother and partner first, So, the fact he didn’t even know about this terrifies me.
“I just need to finish these mushrooms.” I give Cole a weary smile.
He nods and kisses my forehead. He understands.
They all do.
TYLER
You promised. You promised. You promised.
I hear it clear as day, the pain that laces her voice in a way I’m unsure I’ll ever be able to undo. But promises get fucking broken.
She made her intentions clear. So I will make mine clear, too. I was convinced I was prepared for the outcome of tonight. But Sunny is living proof of the fact she has completely altered any semblance of the person I was. Because I am not fucking prepared for the way she is acting.
I understand that a shock is to be expected since I proposed to Shelby without telling a soul.
Well, it wasn’t so much of a proposal but me and Shelby going to the closest Tiffany’s to let her pick out whichever ring she wanted.
She had no complaints about that as she picked the biggest damn ring and I handed my card to the cashier without a second guess.
It’s so different from what I had gotten Sunny.
If I was going to marry anyone, it was going to be her. Of course it would be her. The day after I knew I was in love with her, I researched every nontraditional ring I could. I scoured stores all day, going to every jeweler I knew once I picked the type of stone that would be perfect.
And I bought the ring.
A beautiful stone of moss agate, elongated into a hexagon and haloed by diamonds on a thin golden band. Custom made by me. Simple, but beautiful just like her.
I’d never been one to believe in the power of stones, but I know she is.
So I researched all the ones I felt were fitting for us until I finally landed on this one—healing and growth that occurs when you’re with a loving partner.
That’s exactly what she’s given me, and I can only hope that’s what I’ve given her too, even if it's short lived.
It still sits in my closet to this day. I won’t return it, because it’s a reminder of my greatest accomplishment and biggest failure.
Shelby walks through the apartment with her head held high and a big smile across her delicate face. She’s proud, and feels like she won. Maybe she did.
My perfectly detailed plan has failed. I have failed. That’s a tough fucking feat to swallow.
By the way her hands are exploring me, I know what Shelby will want by the end of the night, and I just won’t be able to bring myself to do it. If I can’t now, will I ever be able to?
I experienced more damn pleasure in the handful of times me and Sunny fooled around than in the two years me and Shelby fucked. It was just… sex. It was just my body fucking reacting, not connecting. After what she did, I know it’d always remain that way.
But with Sunny, we hadn’t even had sex, but anytime we found ourselves together, I felt more connected to her, to myself, than I ever did before.
Things needed to be set straight, my affairs all in order before I ever crossed that line with Sunny. Because once I did, there would absolutely be no way I could go back. Now we will never get the option.
Swallowing hard, I blink away the thoughts as Shelby places her hand on my thigh, pulling me back into reality, laughing at something Anthony says.
“Well, Tyler and I have stayed in contact this whole time, I mean how could we not? And finally, we just decided to hang out one day and it took off from there. Here I am once again!” Shelby smiles at me.
That’s a fucking lie.
There wasn’t a week that went by without a text from her. No doubt her parents trying to push her where they need her. Every single one went unanswered until two weeks ago when I finally told Mitchell I’d follow through with his plan.
To say our parents were excited is a fucking understatement. No actual legal contracts were necessary anymore except for the marriage license. Something so much more malleable if need be. Because how could his son in law promote any other governor but his father-in-law?
I watched as Mitchell and Matthew threw the contract I drew up in the fire. Putting an end to the out I formulated for months. They brought out their finest bourbon and clinked glasses with me as I watched every shred of hope I had left burn to embers.
Matthew was never going to accept the contract. He just said he’d consider it to play with me and buy time until I finally caved.
It’d all be so, so perfect because how could it not, right?
Because I love you, Sunny. It will never be anyone else.