A Long Time Coming (Cane Brothers, #3)(69)

“L-love you,” I say, stuttering over the words, not because I’ve never said them to him before, but because of the way his eyes penetrate me when he says it, like he’s trying to convey something. Like he’s trying to tell me something else, something deeper, but before I can decipher exactly what it is, he’s heading toward the living room and then out his door. To his date. With Birdy.

I set my coffee mug on the nightstand and flop back on the bed.

What the hell was that all about?





Chapter Twelve





BREAKER





“Are you both there?” I say into the phone once I conference Huxley in.

“Yes,” they say at the same time, and then Huxley adds, “This better be fucking good. Lottie is waiting for me.”

“Kelsey is cooking pancakes naked, so yeah, hurry the fuck up,” JP says.

God, their lives are so annoying . . . annoying because I’m jealous. So fucking jealous.

“I need to talk to you guys because I’m going to do something stupid. I can feel it. I need to come back to work. I need to distract myself with something, anything, please, just let me come back to work.”

“Uhh . . . the desperation is thick. What’s going on?” JP asks.

“I almost fucked up,” I say. “Or maybe I did, I don’t know, but fuck, it’s not good. It’s really not good, so please just let me come back to work. I’ll wear a wig, a fake mustache, I’ll even do another job. Just anything to get me away from . . . from this hell.”

“A mustache, huh?” JP asks.

“Tell us what the hell is going on,” Huxley says in that father-figure voice of his.

I take a deep breath while I squeeze the steering wheel of my car at a red light. I should be stressed by the goddamn lawsuit being hurled toward me. I should be worried that the Cane name is being disparaged. But no. I’m stressed about the woman I love who I just told I’d fuck hard enough to make her hoarse from orgasms. The fuck? But first . . . “I, uh . . . came to the conclusion that I have feelings for Lia.”

There’s silence.

And then, “I fucking told you he was going to figure it out in a week,” JP says. “Spending that much time with a girl you’re harboring feelings for while she attempts to plan a wedding with another man, yeah, that will give you a swift kick to the scrotum.”

“Can we not play the I-told-you-so game?” I ask.

“But we did,” Huxley says. “We told you this would happen.”

“Okay, great, wonderful, you two are modern-day matchmakers. Congratulations. Now, can we please move on?”

“Glad you can be big enough to acknowledge that,” JP says.

“How does this pertain to work and fucking up?” Huxley asks.

“I can’t be around her anymore. I need reasons I can’t help with the planning of her wedding.”

“So you’re just going to crush her like that?” JP asks. “Dude, that’s not cool.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?” I ask. “I just told her if she was mine, I’d never let her go. I would fuck her every chance I had.”

“Whoa, what?” Huxley says.

“Uh, dude, that’s a bit extreme for not even admitting your feelings. How? Did you just announce that you’d fuck her out of the blue?”

“No.” I drag my hand over my face. “We were talking about the honeymoon phase, and I mentioned how I wouldn’t let her out of my sight but quickly changed it to my girl. But then, after that, she tells me that she and Brian barely have sex because he’s tired, and I just fucking lost it. All I could think about was how this lucky son of a bitch was taking advantage of her and how he didn’t deserve her, and I told her that if she was mine, we’d be fucking all the time, so yeah . . . there you have it. I need to not be around her anymore, and if I could return to work, that would be great. Thank you.”

“You can’t come back to work yet,” Huxley says. “Not until Taylor says it’s clear.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Keep being her man of honor when clearly all I want is her?”

“You could do some next-level shit and jeopardize her wedding so she doesn’t get married at all,” JP says.

“Don’t listen to him,” Huxley cuts in. “That’s a terrible fucking idea. Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?”

“Please,” I scoff. “We all know how that goes. I tell her how I feel, she doesn’t feel the same way. She ends up patting me on the shoulder, and then we don’t talk anymore.”

“Where are you getting your evidence from? Movies and TV shows?”

“Of course, where else?” I ask as I pull into the parking lot of the trailhead.

“Probably not your best source of reality,” JP says. “I think Huxley is right. You tell her, and if she doesn’t feel the same way, at least you know, and you can move on.”

“What about that Birdy girl? Can’t you move on with her?” Huxley asks.

“I’m about to tell her I can’t see her anymore because I like someone else, and I don’t want to lead her on. Also, I’ve kissed her twice now and felt nothing, and I think it’s because I want Lia and only Lia.”