Role Playing(76)

Sheryl looked like she was ready to cry.

Maggie bared her teeth. Good!

“C’mon, they’re playing music, let’s dance,” Aiden said to her gently. “Davy, can you make sure Mom gets back to her room?”

Davy nodded, his lips pulled into a taut line. His face was displaying a range of emotions in a whirled mess. He was glaring at Maggie, but also at Sheryl, which Sheryl seemed surprised about. Aiden’s mother looked angry but also upset, her eyes darting around the room, obviously intent on damage control.

Aiden tugged her out to the dance floor. It was a slowish song, one of her favorites—the sad but strangely romantic “All This Love” by J. P. Cooper. Aiden kept his arms around her, his broad palms resting on her waist. It probably read as romantic, although she suspected it was actually insurance so she didn’t go back to the table and beat the shit out of Sheryl.

Which—okay, wise move on his part.

“Easy, easy,” he breathed in her ear, his beard tickling the outer shell, the heat of his breath brushing against her jawline. “It’s okay.”

“It is not okay,” she protested in a hiss, her breath still ragged, her heart barely calming down. “It is far from fucking okay. That bitch outed you.”

“I know.” He held Maggie tighter.

“Let me go,” Maggie muttered. “I just wanna talk.”

With my fists.

“Yeah, right, killer,” he said. “Maybe you calm down a little before you pursue some conversation.”

Maggie probably shouldn’t have gone that far, all things considered. It was good that Aiden had stopped her from straight-up beating Sheryl. But still—the whole thing was so toxic. They’d wanted Aiden at this goddamned wedding with a date. They should’ve been more careful what they wished for.

She struggled a little, then sighed, forcing herself to take deep breaths. “You’re taking this awfully well,” she finally noted, a song later, after her pulse settled.

“Nobody’s stood up for me the way you do,” he said.

She stroked his face. It just felt natural. She wanted to just wrap him in a weighted blanket and . . . protect him from all the small-minded, hurtful people in his life. She wanted to hug him tight and never let him go.

It made her heart hurt and her head ache with confusion, but she was going to lean into it.

“Your mom knew, didn’t she?” she said instead. “About Jordan. That’s what she was afraid people would talk about. That’s why she wanted you to have a date.”

He nodded, and she felt him exhale. “My parents were so pissed when we broke up, demanding answers, and I was angry and hurt, and I told them it was because I’d been with a man. Then they didn’t talk to me for a few years, until my dad got sick and wanted to reconnect.”

Oh, God. Maggie’s heart broke for him, and she hugged him, stroking his broad back.

“Davy knew bits and pieces, too—probably because Sheryl said I was gay, and he thought it was true and that I’d been just using her, especially since I didn’t date anyone afterward. It turns out he’d always had a thing for Sheryl, and he’d recently been divorced, and when they got together, I felt like . . . I owed it to her. At least she was happy.”

Maggie couldn’t help it. She let out a strangled noise.

“I know,” he said. “I mean . . . now, I know. I didn’t have to feel so guilty. I didn’t need to become the villain in this narrative. It’s just been a hard habit to break, y’know?”

Maggie wrinkled her nose. Aiden had contributed, sure—all communications problems took two to tango. But Sheryl was far from the blameless victim that she tried to portray herself as.

“I hate that you went through all that,” Maggie said. “I’m just so sorry. And I’m sorry she acted this way now, here. You deserve so much better.”

To her surprise, Aiden was smiling at her, his gray eyes glowing with happiness. “It’s fine. No, really,” he reassured her, when she went to protest. “Nobody has ever gone to bat for me like you have. Anybody else would’ve blamed me, until they heard more of my side of the story. Maybe even then. But you just . . . well, had my back. Just like you promised.”

She shrugged, feeling a little weird. “You’re one of my best friends,” she pointed out.

“More than that. I have never, ever felt as supported and cared for as you make me feel.” He leaned down, kissing her forehead. “Thank you, Maggie.”

She felt it, like a combination of heat and chills, dancing over her skin. She involuntarily clenched tighter.

He must’ve seen it. His eyes were suddenly glowing for a different reason. She swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat.

“Maggie,” he rasped, leaning forward slowly. “Can I kiss you?”

She knew she should say no. That she really, really ought to say no.

But she couldn’t.

So she heard herself say “yes,” and closed her eyes.





CHAPTER 32


MOMENT OF AWESOME


She felt his breath before she felt his lips, warm and inviting, smelling like chocolate and coffee buttercream from the slice of wedding cake they’d eaten before all hell broke loose at the table and she’d come close to committing assault. He tugged her closer to him, even though that was barely possible. His hands were so big and strong and yet comforting as he pulled her tight.