18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Mac
Bardot and I got Em back in our room, probably handling her a little more delicately than necessary, but shit. I didn’t like seeing her hurt. If I could protect her every second of every day, I’d give up everything else in my life and just do that.
“Are you doing okay?” I searched her face, wondering if we should get her to the doctor or something.
She groaned and studied her hand. “Yeah, it was awkward out there and I guess this was a good excuse to get away from them.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing her get burned was maximum-level stressful and when she wanted to retreat to the house, I was worried it was worse than she was letting on.
“I didn’t end up making a s’more.” Em sighed and leaned against the bedframe. “It’s not even that big of a burn—”
“On it,” I said, kissing her forehead. “Be back in five.”
“Wait—”
I stopped, leaning against the door.
“Bash can go. Everyone’s been so mean to you. He can at least set them straight—”
“I’m more than capable of setting people straight, Pink.” I palmed the doorframe. “I’ve got this.”
She groaned, but Bash smiled at me. “He’s got it, Em.”
I didn’t enjoy walking away from her while she was hurt, but Sebastian was there, and it was really just a small burn, even if it was scary as hell seeing her hand in the fire.
I strolled up to the rest of the group, not showing a single sign of weakness. They seemed like people who would tear me to shreds if given the chance. I wasn’t buying the nice act they put on earlier. Bash and Em let me know who I was really meeting, and I would guard myself against whatever they threw my way.
“The two of you really took care of her,” Em’s dad remarked as I sat in my seat.
“We always take care of each other.” I grabbed a stick and slid a marshmallow onto it, refusing to believe Jason was truly impressed.
Ava smiled at me and held up a plate with two s’mores on it. “We try to, as well. Even if some of us aren’t always great at it—” She glared at her mother, and I held in a laugh. “I turned the other two marshmallows that didn’t have flesh on them into s’mores for you guys.”
I smiled at her and took the plate. “Thanks, Ava.”
She was like dynamite wrapped in a cashmere sweater and I’d do whatever it took to stay on her good side.
“How is she?” Rachel asked.
“She’s okay—”
“Is Bash taking care of her?” Alicia asked.
“Yes. We’ll probably have an early night tonight. It’s been a rough couple of weeks—”
As soon as I said it, I regretted it.
“Why?” Collin asked.
“Finals.” I rotated the marshmallow, careful to keep my attention on the fire—it was a good excuse to avoid eye contact.
These vultures didn’t need to know that everything was going wrong with our wedding planning. It was hard enough dealing with it on our own. Just when we’d have a win, Harriet would call—or text now that the calls had become so frequent she probably dreaded dialing our number—with news of something else that had gone wrong. We didn’t need their input or snide comments.
“That had to be a tough loss—”
I laughed, grabbing a square of chocolate and a graham cracker. “There’s always next year.” If the Evergreens wanted me. Another thing the Averys and Bardots did not need to know.
“The other team was from the coldest part of New Hampshire.” Jason smirked and took a swig of his beer. “I bet their only source of entertainment was hockey.”
I could tell he meant it as a sort of compliment for my team, but it didn’t sit well with me and I couldn’t bring myself to smile back.
“I better get this to Em.”
“And get Bash’s to him,” Alicia called after me.
I glanced at my plate that clearly had three s’mores on it and waved to them. “Got it.”
Alicia was so worried we’d forget her son. Was that what prompted Em’s marriage discussion? As if any of us wanted a world where only two of us were together. I’d fight tooth and fucking nail to keep both of them in my life for as long as we were on this planet.
When we proposed, I thought everything would fall into place as easily as our relationship had come together—although that wasn’t exactly easy. But this was a whole new bucket of problems I hadn’t expected.
Em and Bash were worth it, so I’d keep going. But there had to be a better way. There had to be some path that didn’t feel like an uphill battle just trying to make it to the aisle.
“I really don’t think your family likes me,” I said, passing the s’mores to Bash and Em.
“I don’t think they like anyone.” Bash took a giant bite, getting some marshmallow on his new stubble.
A beard suited him, adding to his whole grumpy vibe. I stretched over to him and licked the marshmallow off, loving the rough scrape against my tongue.
Bash turned his head, drawing me in for a sweet, firm kiss.
“Say the word and we’ll leave,” he murmured.
“Can we stay one more day?” Em asked, her face crumpled.
“Hey,” I crooned. “We can stay as long as you want.” I stroked her cheek and tried to smooth the worry lines on her forehead. “But why don’t you want to run as fast as we can in the other direction?”
The corner of her mouth ticked up subtly. “It sounds stupid, but I really want their blessing. I want to know my parents love the men I love and accept our relationship.”
“That doesn’t sound stupid at all.” I cupped her face and kissed her nose. She was vulnerable, and I hated her family for putting her in this position. “We know they like Bardot—”
Bash snorted. “Really?”
“I mean, your parents love you. And Em’s parents would ditch me on the side of the road if it meant they could have you and Em all to themselves without having to deal with me again.”
“That’s not true—”
I leveled Bardot with a look. “Your mom made sure I was bringing a s’more back for you, too. I get the impression she thinks we’re going to dump you the second we can—” My stomach flopped and acid rose in my throat. “But we would never—” I choked on the last word and Bash grabbed my hand.
“I know. I trust you—both of you—with my life.” He groaned and raked his hand through his hair. “We’re too old for this drama—”
“You’re too old. I’m—”
“Only like, what, three years younger?” He raised his brow, and I laughed. “Seriously, though. This is like us against the world angst.”
“Nah, it’s just us against our parents—”
“Still pretty damn angsty,” Em said around a big bite of s’mores.
“I don’t want it to be us against them.” Bash picked a small piece of marshmallow off the corner of Em’s mouth. “This should be easy. They should be happy for us or at least not be so damn critical.”
“They haven’t seen us together. We know we work.” Em kissed my hand and reached for Bash. “We know this is our forever. But they don’t.”
“Then let’s show them.”
“Tomorrow?” Em yawned.
“Tomorrow,” Bash and I said, together.
It was so quiet I couldn’t fall asleep. There were sounds, but it wasn’t like at home. No cars driving by. No random people shouting to each other down the road like midnight was the height of social hour. Just some crickets and occasionally a breeze that rattled wind chimes.
Bash was snoring softly, Em was snoring a little louder. They were so cute, awake or snoring in their sleep. But even that wasn’t enough to cover the thoughts piling on top of each other in my head.
The thoughts started the moment the lights were switched off, and I had nothing to distract me.
My parents wanted nothing to do with me now that I wasn’t useful to them. Had they ever actually loved me? Or had they just hoped I would be beneficial to them? And once I wasn’t, I wasn’t worth keeping around.
The Evergreens should have sent me a contract by now, but I hadn’t heard from anyone. Did they want me? I could call them, but the nerves of all of it had gotten the best of me. I didn’t know what to say if they told me they weren’t interested in having me on the team.
Could I ask Em and Bash to uproot their lives and follow wherever hockey led me? They said they would go where I went, but could I ask that of them? And if they moved because of me, would it just be another thing their parents wouldn’t like about me?
Meeting my future in-laws went about as well as I expected. They were nice to my face, but there was an underlying current that made it painfully obvious they didn’t want me there.
I had never been so insecure in my fucking life. I should have been in the middle of the days I’d look back on as an old man and cherish. These should have been the best days of my life, but I was laying there staring at the ceiling while my world imploded around me.
Slipping Em’s arm off me, I scooted to the edge of the bed. I didn’t have to go far. The three of us were so sardined on there, I was surprised I had any feeling left on my right side at all.
I needed to go to the lake and sit by it while everyone else was asleep, so I could get these thoughts under control.
Opening the door softly, I snuck into the hallway and froze. There were voices coming from the family room. Tiptoeing closer, I realized it was Nina and Alicia.
“Not to mention the abuse. Professional athletes are so violent.” That was Rachel.
“He’s going to hurt them.” And that was Collin.
Were they really up, discussing the three of us while they thought we were sleeping?
I rounded the corner and enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing them all jump.
“Don’t worry. I’m not violent .” I took a seat on the couch, right between Nina and Rachel.
Spreading wide, I took up as much room as I could.
I was tired of their shit and I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Your daughter—” I looked at the Averys. “And your son—” I looked at the Bardots. “Are the loves of my life. We’re getting married and you better wrap your heads around it because I’m going to be in their lives ‘til death do us part.”
Alicia smirked. “We’ll happily support our children marrying each other. In fact, Em and Bash make a lot of sense now that we’ve had some time to get used to the idea.”
I heard what she was saying loud and clear. Em and Bash were the real couple in their minds. I would always be an outsider.
“I’m not going to hurt them.”
Rachel’s face fell and for a moment, I thought she would be in my corner. One of them had to see that this wasn’t some fad. The three of us were committed to each other for life.
“You were all so nice to my face today. Was that just an act?”
Alicia snorted. “Stay away from our kids.”
All of them got to their feet, like some creepy, centrally controlled amoeba. Without so much as a goodbye, they dispersed to their rooms.
And I was alone with my thoughts again.