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With as terrible as I had treated them both, somehow they still put me first.
Shit. Could I ever be that selfless?
“You’re saying you’re not going to get married because of me?” I asked. “That’s dumb.”
She stared at me in total disbelief. “Uh . . . I agree. Are you saying,” hope sparked inside her eyes, “you’d be all right with it if we did?”
I didn’t need to think about it. “Yeah, I’d be okay. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, and people might be shitheads to us about it, but—yeah. I told you I wasn’t going to stand in the way of you two, and I fucking meant it.”
I had a whole new perspective after seeing it from the other side with Sydney.
Cassidy looked around the room wildly like she didn’t know what to do. But then her gaze snapped to me, and it came from her in an urgent rush. “You should tell your dad that.”
“Okay, I will.” I flashed her a smile, before turning back toward the stairs. “This was a good talk.”
“Yes,” she breathed, “it was.”
Up the stairs I went, leaving her to consider all the new possibilities of her future, while I began to focus on mine.
After Troy knocked, the apartment door swung open and revealed a thoroughly annoyed Colin. He glared in my direction and clearly felt I’d ambushed him, but this was his fault. He’d been ignoring my texts all day, even the business ones, so I’d had to use our mutual friend as my ‘in.’
Once I’d explained everything to Troy, he’d agreed to help. He'd asked Colin if he could stop by, and I’d tagged along without an invite.
“What the hell are you—”
That was as far as Colin got before I made my way inside his place, not caring if it was rude. We had shit to discuss.
“Last time I was here,” I said, “I didn’t get a chance to say any of the things I needed to, so this time you’re going to be quiet and listen.”
Madison was seated on the couch in the living room area, and my forceful tone drew her attention. I didn’t mind if she overheard this. Maybe she’d see my side and help her boyfriend get his head out of his ass.
“I’m sorry,” I announced, adding all the weight I could to the word. “It was wrong to keep my relationship with Sydney a secret, and how I pulled Troy into it too. I lied to you, and that was really shitty of me. I’m sorry for being a bad friend.”
Colin acted like my apology was unexpected, but also that it wasn’t enough to move the needle. He pointed at me and was going to say something, but I cut him off.
“I’m not fucking finished.” I massaged the muscles at the back of my neck. “When you told me I wasn’t allowed to date her, I tried to respect that. I really did. For more than a year, I ignored my feelings. I pretended they didn’t exist, even when all they did was get stronger.”
“I don’t want to hear this,” he groaned.
“Too bad.” Troy’s tone was plain. “You’re going to.” He nodded his hello to Madison, dropped down to sit on the other side of the couch from her, and gestured to me as if to say, continue.
“We both tried to fight it,” I said. “I didn’t want to like her. I didn’t want to be so fucking into her . . . but it got to a place where I couldn’t control it anymore.” I gestured to his girlfriend and my voice turned sharp, cutting to the truth. “Tell me you don’t know what that’s like.”
His posture had been confrontational with his hands jammed in the back pockets of his jeans, but as soon as he considered what I meant, his hands dropped out to hang at his sides.
I gave him the most determined look I possessed. “Your ultimatum is dumb, and if you want to play stupid games, then you’re going to win stupid prizes.” My chest lifted with a deep breath. “I pick Sydney.”
Colin blinked. “What?”
Maybe he was bluffing or maybe not—I didn’t care. “She knows about my past and how I wasn’t always the greatest of guys. And as much as it confuses you—well, me too—she said she loves me anyway. So, you’re not going to stand in the way of that.”
He stared at me in utter disbelief, and when I didn’t budge, he tossed a glance at Troy. It screamed can you believe this guy?
Troy stared back with a fixed look. He’d had to deal with similar shit with his mom when he’d started dating Erika, so it hadn’t taken much to convince him to join Team Preston.
When Troy didn’t back him up, Colin looked pissed. “You’re willing to risk our friendship and everything on this?”
“On her? Yeah, I am.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “I get why you don’t like it. You think I’m not going to treat her right or I’m not serious about it. But I promise I’m going to do my best, and doesn’t this show you how fucking serious I am?”
