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“There’s my girl.”
I lean into him. “I’m sorry I’m such a baby about this. It just hurt.”
“I know it did. And it’s okay that it hurt you. Just don’t hide it from me.” He starts messing around on his phone.
“What are you doing?
“Sharing your reel to my story and adding in a comment.”
I gasp and grab my phone. Sure enough, there’s a notification from Instagram. And sure enough, it says that Derek Walsh has commented on my reel. I open it and look for the comment.
Crave_DerekWalsh: Thanks for the great workout, Aud. You’re an amazing trainer. :)
I smile. “Thank you.”
“Welcome. Now what are we doing today? Are we tackling some closets?”
“No, no more closets. I can’t tackle another one,” I say, sighing as I look out over the ocean.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lie, my eyes remaining on the ocean. I refuse to meet his.
“You know you’ve said you’re fine so many times, I’m starting to see through it. I know you’re not fine. Jesus, Audrey, how could you be? I just wish when I ask you, you’ll be straight with me. I wanna help. These next few days are going to suck, and I would like to be there for you.”
I sigh. I’m a bitch. He’s only trying to help. “Sorry, it’s just a lot.”
“I know. How are you doing with Aiden coming to town and your parents? Have you spoken to them?”
“My parents?” I ask him, ignoring the first question because I’m not really sure how to answer it. Every time I think about them coming and telling Aiden, I get sick to my stomach. This will kill Aiden, like it’s slowly doing to me. Thankfully, I have Derek to help distract me. I’m not sure how Aiden will react.
“Yeah,” he confirms.
“No, I haven’t really talked to them. Just a text here and there. My mom says he’s doing well enough for travel and that no one will notice anything’s wrong.” I shrug.
Derek pulls me into him, and I rest my head on his shoulder. He leans over and kisses my head. “We’re all here for you,” he reminds me.
“I’m glad Brent is coming with Aiden. It’ll be nice to see everyone. It just sucks that this is why we’re all coming together. Especially because Aiden has no idea.” I feel like I’m deceiving my brother.
“It’s going to be okay. You’re honoring your parents’ wishes. He may be angry at first, but he’ll understand.”
“I hope you’re right.” I’m not sure that he is, but I don’t bother saying anything. I don’t want to ruin the nice morning we’ve been having. “We have so much to do today. We need more food in this house.”
“I can be here if you want me to be. Hold your hand through the whole damn thing.” He grabs my hand and places a kiss on my knuckles.
My stomach flutters with delight. “I appreciate that, but won’t Aiden think it’s strange?”
He looks over at me and shrugs. “Alright, baby, let’s go get some dinner and then stock up the house.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I wake up in complete darkness, and it feels like I’m lying on the sun. There is a heavy arm draped over my shoulder. I smile, remembering that I’m waking up next to Derek. He chuckles behind me.
“Good morning,” he says, pinching my ass. “How did you sleep?”
“Well, once you let me go to sleep, I slept pretty well.” I roll over and face him.
He chuckles. “I don’t remember you complaining last night. I mean, there were moans coming. Should we do it again this morning and find out if those moans were you complaining or you enjoying things?”
