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“You look good, Chloe. I like the hair.” She’s cut her normally long, blonde hair to just below her chin, removing the purple strands she had the last time I saw her.
“Thanks.” She runs her fingers through it. “I promised my mom I’d keep it blonde for the weddings, but I might go rainbow as soon as Brady and Nat say ‘I do.’”
“Well, if anyone can pull it off, it’s you, Chloe.” I glance around the empty beach. “Where is everyone?”
“You just missed the guys. They’re deep-sea fishing. And the girls are having a spa day.” She looks up at me with a coy expression. “Are you going to ask me about her?”
I really wasn’t going to. Not because I didn’t want to, but because I didn’t think she’d tell me. “Are you going to tell me anything if I do, or is there a girl code you can’t break?”
“Fuck the girl code. She’s miserable, Cooper. She’s pushing you away because she thinks you’ll be better off without her, not because she doesn’t love you.” This girl I’ve known forever stares me down with a sad look in her eyes. “Don’t let her do it, Coop. Fight for her. She’s worth it, even if she doesn’t think she is.”
“What the hell do you mean she doesn’t think she’s worth it?” Anger licks across my skin like a red-hot flame.
Chloe looks at me like I’m the biggest idiot she’s ever met. “Why do you think she’s pushing you away, Cooper? Jesus. You two are the densest smart people I’ve ever known. If you want answers, talk to Carys. Her hut is down there.” She points to the opposite end of the beach. “Number 10. She should be back there soon. But I swear to God, if you tell her I told you any of this, I’ll tell the world you have a micropenis, Sinclair.” She smacks my ass as she walks away, and I’m left sorting through everything she just said.
How the hell could this woman ever think she wasn’t worth it?
* * *
Coop:At the resort.
Murphy:Nice of you to finally join us, fuckhead.
Bash:We’ll be back in an hour.
Brady:Girls are at the spa, if you want to find your sister before she hunts you down.
Declan:Can’t control your woman?
Brady:Fuck off, Dec. Like Belles doesn’t have you wrapped around her pinky.
Murphy:I’ll bet Brady likes it when Nattie is wrapped around his little thing.
Brady:It’s not little.
Bash:That’s not what she said.
Coop:Dude. Stop.
Declan:Want to watch the kids tonight so Belles and I can have a few hours to ourselves?
Bash:Give it up, Dec. You’ve literally asked everyone.
Murphy:He asked the Secret Service.
Declan:I was drunk.
Coop:Sorry Dec. I get two nights and I’m not spending them with the kids. Love ya, but no.
Declan:Whatever. Dad’s reeling in a fish. See ya soon.
* * *
We all gather at the beach later that night to walk through the rehearsal for tomorrow. The wedding coordinator lines us all up at the back of the aisle and laughs. “Well, I’d normally encourage the bride and groom to put you all together according to height, but I believe most of you are coupled up already, and you boys are giants. So how about if you’re married or engaged, go stand next to your significant other?”
Belles and Declan, Brady and Nattie, and Lenny and Bash all move, leaving Carys, Chloe, Belles’s younger brother, Tommy, and me all standing alone. Chloe moves next to Tommy and puts her arm through his.
“What do you say, Tommy boy? You and me?” she asks brightly.
