They get enough from the fact that I’m here leaning on Pearson Beer's bar with an IPA in my hand, looking more settled than I have any right to.
Cole catches it first, obviously. He always does.
He wipes down the bar more for something to do than because it needs it, then points the towel at me. “You look smug. I don’t like it.”
“I’m not smug.”
Maddox snorts into his beer. “You are absolutely smug.”
“I’m relaxed.”
“That’s worse,” Cole says. “You’re never relaxed unless…”
I take a slow sip of my drink and make the mistake of not immediately denying it.
Maddox leans back on his stool. “Oh, wow.”
Cole just grins. “There it is.”
I exhale through my nose. “Don’t make this irritating.”
“It’s already irritating,” Cole says. “You dragged out the will-they-won’t-they part for so long I almost died of old age.”
“You two are unbearable.”
“Not wrong, though, am I?” Cole smirks.
I glance between them and decide there’s no point pretending otherwise. Not with these two. They know me too well, and Cole has been insufferably convinced about Carly from the beginning. “Things are getting… real.”
Maddox lets out a low whistle.
Cole’s grin sharpens. “Real how?”
I give him a flat look. “Use your imagination.”
“I already am. I want details.”
“You’re not getting them.”
“Coward.”
I ignore that. “We’ve been blurring lines. I know that. I know it’s messy. I know it probably should stop.”
Maddox raises his brows. “But?”
I tap my finger against the bar. I don’t have to think about it long.“But I’m not going to stop.”
The second it’s out of my mouth, it lands in my chest with clarity. And of course,Cole looks so pleased with himself that I immediately regret speaking.
“Oh, I won the bet,” he says, slapping a hand on the bar. “That’s what I’m hearing.”
I rub a hand over my jaw. “Cole.”
Cole ignores me. “Honestly, this is good news. You have to pretend you’re together for that wedding anyway.”
At that, I tip my head back and stare at the ceiling for a second.Fuck. The wedding.With everyone else that's happened, I'd nearly forgotten about it.
Maddox sees the look on my face and starts laughing. “You forgot about the wedding, didn’t you?”
