Page 143 of The Wrong Groom

“That’s because you’re more mature than your uncles.” I ruffle her curls, then look back up at my brothers. “Are you guys heading back into the office?”

They all nod. “We’ll be around, if we can,” Reid says. “If you or Alexis needs anything, just say the word, and we’re there.”

“He means it,” Dominic interjects. “We all care about you—both of you. So don’t keep us out of the loop anymore. I’ve seen what happens when people wait too long to say something. Don’t do that shit.”

He gives me a hard look, and I know exactly what he means. No more handling everything on my own. No more shutting them out.

I exhale slowly, nodding. “I won’t.”

“Good.” With that, Dominic turns to leave. Beckett follows him, then Reid, who has his phone out and is typing furiously, probably updating Tristan.

Peyton, on my knee, glances up at me. “Uncle Beckett said that Alexis wasn’t hurt bad.”

“She’s not,” I assure her. “She just needed to drink more water.”

Peyton nods slowly, seeming reassured for the moment. She pulls her legs up and curls against my chest. “When she wakes up, do you think she’ll want some Skittles?”

“You’ll have to ask her, Bug.”

“Okay. I’ll save some, just in case.”

The two of us sit in silence for a minute, listening to the beeping sound of the vitals monitor beside Alexis’s bed. The chime of my cell phone breaks the quiet, and I check the screen to see a text from Tristan, then another, then a third, back to back to back.

TRISTAN: Reid told me what happened.

TRISTAN: A bit of unsolicited advice from a married guy who fucked up before. Don’t give up.

TRISTAN: Show her what she means to you.

I stare at the messages for a moment. His words are direct, cutting through the noise in my mind, the cloud of despair that’s settled over me since the divorce. Before that, even. Since the moment I saw the heartbroken look on Alexis’s face.

I type a quick, one-handed response.

ME: Thanks. I needed to hear that.

I’m not sure exactly what the next step is, but I know I can’t just wait around, mourning what I’ve lost and what I could have had.

I need to take action. To show Alexis how much she matters to me. How crucial she is to the life I want to build.

Chapter 46

Alexis

I wake up slowly, the sterile, unfamiliar scent of the hospital room unsettling me before memories of the previous day start to seep through the haze. As everything comes flooding back, my chest tightens, and my fingers dig into the thin sheets.

Part of me wants to think it was all a nightmare, but it’s too vivid in my mind. The argument in my father’s office. Travis’s predatory smile, the confidence oozing from him. Gabriel’s revelation. For some reason, it’s the latter that rekindles my nausea.

Everyone else in the situation acted in a way that, while hurtful and shocking in the moment, was in line with what I’d come to expect from them. My parents didn’t care about my desires or feelings. Travis wanted to stake his claim over me, and was willing to resort to underhanded means to do it. But Gabriel threw me for a loop again. Another 180-degree turn, fast enough to give me whiplash and leave my heart sore, vulnerable.

I leave my eyes closed, not wanting to face the harshness of the overhead fluorescent lights. I can hear the endless, droning buzz from above me. And, underneath that, quiet voices. One is deep and steady, the other light, young. Gabriel and Peyton.

“Why hasn’t she woken up yet?” Peyton sounds worried.

“She’s still tired,” Gabriel responds in the patient tone he always reserves for his daughter. I never thought I’d hear that cadence in his voice again, and it feels like pressing on a bruise. “Sometimes it takes a little while to recharge.”

“She’s going to be okay, right?”

“Of course.”