Page 95 of Blue Line

Holt gives me a pointed look. “She thinks you don’t like it that she doesn’t have a steady job. That you’re trying to change her. Her words, not mine. Apparently, what all of her other exes did.” He frowns, muttering something that sounds like, I want to have words with all of them, but I can’t exactly be sure.

“I wasn’t. I’m not. I don’t care if she never has a job. I told her that. I just didn’t want to see her stressed about finding one. Plus, she’s an amazing photographer. She’d have gotten the job without me if she’d applied for it. Right, Sutton?”

“She’s definitely talented,” Sutton agrees. “Had she applied, we would have interviewed her, even if you hadn’t recommended her.” She turns to Holt. “And not because you’re her brother.”

He nods.

“That’s all fine and great, but how do I fix this? Prove to her I’m all in.” Because even though it started as fake, I really am all in.

“You need a grand gesture,” Elias says.

“But what?” I rack my brain for ideas of what I can do to prove that I love her, because I most definitely do, and that I don’t want to change her. I want her exactly the way she is.

“I’ve got it.” I hold up a finger. “I’ll get her name tattooed on my chest.” I smack a hand on the spot.

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “Mate, that’s so overdone.”

“It’s a bit … corny,” Elias agrees.

“But it’s so him,” Holt says, turning to me. “While I agree it is a bit corny and overdone, it’s also romantic as fuck and something you would do.”

“Come on, we can think of something better,” Elias says, scratching his chin and glancing around. “Any ideas, Sutton?”

“I am the least romantic person ever, so no, I don’t have any ideas.”

“But what if a guy wanted to get back into your good graces? What would he have to do?” Elias’s gaze cuts to Sebastian for a second before focusing back on Sutton.

“Nope, that’s it.” I hold up a hand before she can answer the question. “Tattoo it is. Then I’m going to go to your house, Holt, so don’t be surprised, with a boom box and stand outside her window and serenade her with a love song.”

Holt chuckles. “Do you even have a boom box?”

“Shit, no.” I run a hand through my hair. “I know, I’ll make some signs confessing my love for her and apologizing, and I’ll show up at the door. Like in Love Actually.”

“That’s so cheesy it might actually work. She loves that movie,” Holt says.

“Then when she forgives me, because I know she will.” Sebastian snorts, but I ignore him. I’m on a roll. “I’ll get down on one knee and ask her to marry me, for real.”

“Don’t you think that’s rushing it?” Sebastian asks.

I shake my head. “When you know, you know. She’s it for me.”

“You know her best, and if you think that’s going to work …” Elias says.

“I gotta go.” I stand, grab my gear, and practically sprint down the hallway toward the locker rooms.

I’m on a mission to win my woman back. Make her mine for real.

Chapter thirty-seven

Hadley

“It’s me. Can I come in?” Becca’s voice comes from the other side of the door to my room at her and Holt’s house, where I’ve been holed up for the past I don’t even know how many days at this point. More than one but less than five. I think.

I throw the blanket off my head. “Yeah.”

“I come bearing food.” She holds out a tray.

“I’m not—” I start to say until I see the tacos, chips, and guacamole. The familiar wrapper from Locos Tacos makes my heart sink. Not enough to decline the food though. “I could probably eat.”