He opened his mouth, probably to make some snarky comment about how immature she was, so she kept talking to avoid hearing it.
“Which is totally not your problem, and not something you need to or want to help with, but I just thought you should know why I was so mean. And I’m sorry, again, for being mean. You were just trying to help, but it’s all taken care of, my mother and I talked, and everything is fine now so I’ll be good the rest of the week, and I won’t bother you anymore.”
He snapped his mouth shut and blinked a few times once she was done with her long-winded babbling, and Sienna felt the heat rise to her cheeks. She looked at the ground and counted breaths in and out, waiting to see if he had any response.
When she got to fifteen, she looked up. He was staring at her with a mixture of curiosity and something else that she couldn’t quite place.
“You don’t have to say anything,” she said, her face heating again. “I know you don’t feel the same way I do, not after what I did, but—”
“How do you feel?” He tilted his head. “Besides sorry?”
Oh goodness, did she have to spell it out for him? Well, she’d already made a total fool of herself.
“I really, really like you,” she said, her throat suddenly going dry. She swallowed hard, twice. “I don’t—I don’t know what exactly this is, or was, but I had hoped…” She trailed off and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. You don’t feel the same, and I totally understand. It’s fine.”
She turned to head back down the trail. A hand on her arm stopped her. With a deep breath, she cleared emotion from her face and looked back at him, ready for whatever he was going to say. It would crush her heart, no matter what, but he was a nice enough guy to do it gently, at least.
“Sienna—” He glanced down at the watch on his wrist and dropped her arm. “I have to go.”
And with that, he ran away, taking a piece of her heart with him.
Twenty-Two
6 Days Until Dream Wedding
Stage fright was notsomething Fox had ever really experienced.
He’d been in front of big crowds without even breaking a sweat. The music was so much a part of him that it usually couldn’t wait to get out. Before shows he would be buzzing backstage, eager and ready to sing and play for as long as they’d let him.
So why was he a nervous wreck about performing in front of twenty people?
“Fox, buddy, you okay?” Eli slapped a hand on his shoulder, and Fox jumped as if he’d been electrocuted. Eli laughed. “Nervous?”
“A little.” They were all milling around outside the meeting room, waiting for the crew to tell them they could go in. Fox crossed his fingers that some electrical malfunction would keep them outside forever.
“That doesn’t sound like you.” Eli crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.
Fox frowned. “Well, neither does this love song about candy we have to sing.”
What he’d told Sienna in the woods had been true—he used his songs to say what his words couldn’t. Eli didn’t know that, so he couldn’t know how frustrating it was to put on a performance like this. Even now, after everything, Sienna managed to get him to open up in ways he hadn’t in years.
But the most surprising thing from their brief interaction had to be her apology. Completely unexpected, rambling, and insanely adorable. And it was obvious she had meant every rambling word with all her heart. A heart that apparently belonged to him, despite everything that had happened and everything he’d told her.
And he’d just stood there. The perfect, quiet moment he’d been hoping for, no cameras around, to tell her he wanted to give it a shot, to reassure her that he still felt the same, still wanted to see where this would go. But everything had hit him all at once, and so deeply, he’d been unable to say a single word.
So, he’d gone back to meet the guys and rehearse the ridiculous dance number with Eli and Wade. If nothing else, he didn’t want Eli to have to eat an almond truffle cake infused with lavender and poppy seeds at his wedding. The fire he’d felt earlier in the week to beat Sienna had completely fizzled out, and his loyalty to Eli took over to keep him motivated.
And it was going to take a lot of motivation to get through this.
The meeting room had been transformed into a small concert hall. There was a guy manning the karaoke machine off to the side and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The group of judges sat front and center to the makeshift stage that Jason Castle was currently standing on.
“Alright, alright,” he said. “It’s time to see what you guys are made of. The bridesmaids won the last challenge, which means they got to choose who goes first. Drumroll please.”
Jason turned to the DJ—not that you could call him that—and nodded his head. With a push of a button, a track of a drumroll started playing through the small room. “First up, the groomsmen.”
Fox groaned as Audrey and her bridesmaids burst out in laughter.
Of course they chose the guys to go first. And from their perspective, itwasfunny. There was no way for them to know how hard this was for Fox. He tried to calm his frantic heart, and all of the guys—minus Harry, who said there was no way he was wearing those ridiculous costumes and making a fool of himself—made their way to the stage.
