AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You okay?” Bristol asked, dragging me from my thoughts, and I realized I’d zoned out while I’d watched the people around us.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Sorry. I was thinking. Lost in the past and what-ifs.”
“Axel. We—”
“Who would have thought Oakley would be the first of us to get married?” Ginger interrupted, returning with Trevor to sit beside us and following our gazes to watch the dancers.
“Yeah…” Bristol murmured.
“Then it was us.” Ginger leaned her head on Trevor’s shoulder. “Hey, you remember when we went to that wedding chapel when we were on vacation during spring break in high school? You and Bristol pretended to get married then the whole rest of the time, you acted like you were on your honeymoon.”
My stomach twisted at the subject of the enormous secret I kept, the one I still had to talk to Bristol about when I found the right moment. And that moment needed to be as soon as possible. When the conditions were right and I stopped being a chicken.
“I barely recall that night,” Bristol laughed. “Just what you guys told me. I swear since then, I haveneverhad one of those little umbrella drinks, not even once.”
“Or six of them,” Ginger teased.
“I didn’t realize they had so much alcohol in them,” Bristol protested. “They just tasted like fruit.”
She wasn’t wrong. That’s how I’d gotten drunk, too. We hadn’t even meant to. If Bristol knew the consequences were more than the hangovers we’d nursed the next day, she gave no hint to it. And my guilt grew exponentially.
“I found pictures of it the other day,” Ginger went on.
“Oh! Will you share those with me?” Bristol exclaimed. She wanted pictures of our so-calledfakewedding? That was a good sign, right?
“Sure. I’ll send them to you tomorrow.”
“Share what?” Sadie asked as the other four returned to the table. She scooted away from Barke and hopped onto her stool, while Oak carefully helped Luna get seated. Looking none-too-pleased, Barke moved beside Sadie and slung his arm along the back of her chair while she ignored him.
“Pictures of Axel and Bristol’s ‘wedding’,” Ginger supplied with air quotes around wedding. “You remember that?”
“Oh my God, yes! I was Bristol’s bridesmaid, and you were the official photographer. The boys were both best men because they’re twins. Will you send me pictures, too?”
The women giggled about it, talking about the trip for a bit longer while I drank my beer, kind of wishing it was something stronger. Despite being happy to be here, I couldn’t alleviate the guilt eating me while I watched my friends. Trevor looked at Ginger as if she were the most perfect being in the universe, and maybe, she was in his world. Oak had his hand in Luna’s belly while he cuddled her into his chest. Barke kept stealing glances down at Sadie, his gaze a lot hungrier than he probably knew.
My arms tightened on Bristol’s waist, needing my own solid connection, tenuous and unearned as it was.
“Come dance with me,” I whispered close to her ear as the band started playingMore Than My Hometown.Inhaling, I closed my eyes and allowed a moment to absorb her sweet, warm scent.
I didn’t wait for an answer as I lifted her off the barstool, releasing a breath at the feel of her soft body against mine, then set her on her feet. My hand wrapped around her, letting her know that ‘No’ wouldn’t be an acceptable answer. I’d carry her to the dance floor like Barke had Sadie a few minutes ago.
Her gaze on me, she took a long draw of her beer then placed it on the table before letting me lead her to the floor, our fingers linked. The feel of her skin against mine, palm-to-palm, clicked another lever inside me. One more step toward the forever I wasn’t relinquishing again. The switches had been flipping, one after the other, since I set eyes on her yesterday. Maybe, it was even before then. Maybe it had started when I got into the car to drive here. Or when I’d flown into Michigan. Or even when the command to come here had been issued.
To the deepest parts of my soul I knew, I couldn’t leave her. I didn’t only need to resolve things between us; I needed to completely heal things and find a way to keep her at my side.
I didn’t know how I’d make it work, what I’d have to do to scale her defenses, but I couldn’t just hit the road again without knowing she was mine. More than on a paper she didn’t know about.
“Axel,” she whispered as my hands settled low on her waist, pulling her so we were chest-to-chest. Her fingers fisted in my shirt, and her forehead pressed into the base of my throat, notching just below my chin. “What are we doing?”
“Dancing.” I knew she meant more than that, and she knew I wasn’t stupid or oblivious. I couldn’t miss the feeling of her sigh, blowing against my chest and warming me through my shirt.
“This can’t happen,” she murmured. “We can’t… We can’t…just… Too much has happened. Too much time has—”
“Why? Why can’t we happen?” I growled, rock-solid determination driving me. I was pushing her. I knew I was. And it was triggering her fight or flight response—except I was pretty sure I was going to get both at once.
Well, I would battle herandchase her as much as necessary.
Everything had changed for me the past forty-eight or so hours—hell in the past few days since the last ultimatum had been thrown down. I‘d been questioning everything, and through it all, one thing was clear: I needed Bristol. I didn’t care how many years of time we had separating us. I didn’t care who or what I had to fight. Whatever I had to do, she was mine.
