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Renee shrugs.“Maybe he’s just slow on the uptake.”
“More like a damn snail,” Val says.
Skye giggles.“Or a sloth.”
Val’s brows furrow “Is a sloth slower than a snail?”
“Wait.I’ll look it up,” Renee says, pulling out her phone.
I collapse down onto the ottoman with my head in my hands.“Oh, God.This is just nuts.”I look over at Val.“This is nuts, right?I should be happy.I should’ve stayed there and waited for him to come back.I had everything I’ve ever wanted, and I screwed up by freaking out and running away.”
“You need space to get your head on straight,” Skye says.“Sometimes that break can help you see things more clearly.”
“Did it work for you?”Val asks her.“Because you drew a line in the sand and were absolutely miserable until Cohen came along and bulldozed the whole sandpit.”
“Didn’t he throwhimselfin front of the bulldozer too?”Alex asks.“From how Gio put it, Cohen walked right into the firehouse and fronted up.”
Skye’s eyes soften.“Fuck yeah, he did.”
“There you go,” Alex says.
“But he did it after going from having me tonot.”
“And talking it through with everyone and anyone who’d listen so he knew he wasn’t going to screw it up completely,” Val adds.
“Is that what Bridge is doing with all of us now?”Violet’s voice fills the room.
Skye looks over to me.“OK, London.What do you need from us?What do you need to work out?Is it where to from here?Because an intervention is usually for an addiction or self-destructive behavior.So, do you want help with your addiction to Luc?”
“Or maybe his talented co—” Vi announces before Renee cracks up laughing, blocking her words out, thankfully.
“In two weeks, Lucwillbe my brother-in-law.Maybe it’s good to set boundaries so we don’t talk about talented body parts of family members,” Renee says.
“Yeah.I second that.I love you, Lonnie, and I wanna know you’re getting it good.I just don’t need to think about the fact it’s with my doofus of a big brother.”Skye snaps her gaze to Alex and Renee.“That goes for you two as well.”
“Can we get back to what Lonnie needs from us?”Val says after their laughter dies down a bit.
I lock eyes with hers—Luc’s co-conspirator, my boss and mentor, and one of my best friends.
“Have I screwed this up?”Then I think back to that night in Luc’s car all those months ago when I shot my shot and kissed him that first time.“I don’t want to lose what we have for something that he’s not all in for.”
She nods and leans back in her chair, her expression full of deep thought and consideration.“I think you need time to get used to the idea that Luc is now fully in this with you.My brother has been a lovable but ignorant idiot for years, but I need you to trust me when I say that he knows exactly what he’s got and what he doesn’t want to lose now.For the past week, he’s been one hundred percent eyes on the prize, and that prize is you and just you.But if you need to, then take some time to catch up.I don’t care if it’s a few days, a week, hell—take a month.You take as long as you need for you to believe this is real, because everything I’ve seen is telling me that this is as real is it gets for him.”
Renee nods.“The only difference is that this has been real for you for years, so it’s a big change to have Luc finally on the same page as you.”
“I can’t lose him.Honestly.It wassogood—not just after the date, but the date itself.And being with him, touching him, not thinking whether I’m being too touchy or overstepping or anything—it just felt so natural and right.Do you know what I mean?”
Renee grins and holds her left hand in the air, waving her sparkling engagement ring.“I’m marryingmynatural and right in two weeks, babe.I get it.”She nods over to Val.“And Val’s right.You do whatever you need so that you’re feeling good about this change in your relationship with Luc.”
“Do you regret saying you loved him?”Val asks me seriously.
I open my mouth to say a loud resounding“yes!”but stop ...and think for a moment.I shake my head.“No, I don’t.But Idon’twant to stuff this up and rush him and then screw it all up just when I might finally get everything I’ve ever wanted.”
All of them smile at me, a mixture of pride and understanding in their gazes.
“Just saying, it would be totally okay with Marco and myself if you walked into our wedding in two weeks’ time, hand in hand, blissfully happy and with goofy ‘I’ve had too much sex’ walks going on,” Renee adds with a wink.
“Oh, God,” Val and Skye both say with a shocked laugh that turns into gagging from Skye and snort-giggling from Val.
