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“I’ve been there, buddy,” Maddox said as he set his drink down on the table and looked at me. “There’s no running from it. Once you meet the right one, it’s pretty much over. So just surrender to it.”
“It’s not a death sentence,” Lincoln said over his laughter. “It’s a good thing.”
“Unless she fucks your coworker,” Kingston said, winking at Hayes.
“True that,” Hayes said.
“Nah, Ruby’s a good one. That’s not the problem.” Nash wiped his face with his napkin and tossed it onto the table beside his plate.
“So, what’s the problem?” Cage asked.
I just sat back, arms folded over my chest, as I let them all figure out my shit.
“Well, Ruby and River are both stubborn asses. That’s the biggest problem I see,” Kingston said, tossing me a wink across the table.
“So poetic, brother.” I flipped him the bird.
“What King means to say,” Romeo interjected over his laughter, “is that Ruby and River are both strong people, and they’ve both been single for a long time. Demi says they’re both guarded.”
“What the hell is this? Some kind of psychotherapy where you insult me the whole time?” I hissed.
“Don’t fight it, my man. They do it to me all the time, but it usually leads somewhere.” Cage shrugged, and Finn chucked a dinner roll across the table at him, but Cage caught it with one hand, taking a bite without missing a beat.
“The issue is that we weren’t looking for anything. This was temporary, and we both agreed to that. And she doesn’t live in Magnolia Falls. She was home, helping her father while he recovered from a stroke, and now she’s going back for a new job in a week. I knew the score, and I’ll deal with it. I just don’t need to be analyzed about it every second of the fucking day.”
The table was quiet as they listened to me rant.
“Do you spend a lot of time together?” Finn asked, breaking the silence.
“Every fucking day,” Kingston said. “They spend every night together. They hang out whenever they aren’t working. He just bought a house so her brothers could rent it.”
Hugh and Finn both whistled, and Lincoln clapped me on the shoulder as if he were consoling me.
“Says my brother, who hasn’t had a fucking relationship in his life. The perpetual playboy. Now you’re a relationship expert?” I growled.
“Hey. I know who I am. I’m not guarded; I’m just attentionally challenged. My heart beats for the ladies. I just can’t seem to find one that makes it want to beat for them and no one else.” Kingston took a bite of his roll and raised a brow at me.
“He does make a valid point,” Nash said. “He is in one relationship after the next. There’s nothing guarded about King.”
“Yeah. He’s like a twenty-four-hour open house. Everyone is welcome,” Hayes said, and the table erupted in laughter.
“Hey, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being guarded,” Romeo said, turning to look at me. “But there’s also nothing wrong with changing the plan. You never saw this coming, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. I felt that, and I was terrified of messing it up, but being with Demi is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
I nodded. “And I’m happy for you, brother. I’m not being guarded; I’m being real. First off, I can’t ask her to stay for something I’m not sure I can even do. We got into this knowing it had an expiration date. I’ve never been with one woman for a long period of time. I’m a loner. I like to be on my own. And she does, too.”
“Oh, man, do I get that.” Cage whistled. “However, just because you thought you liked being alone before doesn’t mean you’ll want that forever. You hang out with her every day and night? How long has that been going on?”
“For a few weeks.” I cleared my throat.
“More like two months, dude,” Kingston, the guy who just wasn’t capable of not adding in his two cents, said.
“Rest in peace, my brother. You’re already in a relationship, you just don’t know it.” Maddox shrugged, and Wyle nodded at me.
“And if you don’t do something about it, you’ll just die a lonely, unhappy man,” Cage said.
“Way to make him feel like shit.” Hugh turned his attention to me. “Just tell her how you feel. You don’t have to have it all figured out. But at least let her decide what she wants, and you’ll know that you left it all out there.”
“That’s not really my style. I’m not going to pressure her into something or guilt her to make a decision based on me. People have been doing that her entire life. I won’t be that guy.” It was the truth. If Ruby wanted to stay, she’d need to do that all on her own. I wasn’t going to be another person who needed her to do something for me. “And I can’t even be certain how I feel, anyway.”
