Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men Book 9) (31 page)

I pointed to Tyla before glancing at Sasha. “And you’ve
always
had Chad. I just felt so alone. The only time I ever felt truly alive was when Colton stopped by to see Brandt at the bar. I think he got a kick out of pissing me off because the more I reacted the more he flirted. After a while, I realized I was getting a kick out of his visits too. We had this bizarre game of him pursuing me relentlessly while I told him to fuck off. But nothing ever came of it. Not until the night of Brandt’s wedding.”

Tyla gasped and waved her hands excitedly. “What, girl,
what
? You’ve been holding out on us.
I knew it
! What happened at that wedding? This is going to be juicy, isn’t it? Ooh, this better be fucking juicy as hell.”

Oh, it was juicy all right.

“I was extra depressed,” I admitted. “And bitter because I felt so alone. I was reflecting on how things could’ve ended up if Brandt and I had actually worked out when the best man sat down at my table.”

“Colton was the best man?” Sasha guessed, grinning wide. “Mmm, are you telling us you made it with the best man at your crush’s wedding, and he also happened to be the groom’s brother? Holy shit, you naughty woman. I am so impressed.”

When she hugged me, I burst out laughing. “It felt really, really wrong. We were this close to having sex.” I put a centimeter of space between my thumb and index finger. “And I mean this close. But then I blurted out something about loving Brandt, and he took off and—”

“You did
what
?” Tyla exploded. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know!” I wailed. “I was drunk and still moody and depressed from not having anyone. I think I’d been trying to convince myself all day that I still liked him. So when I hooked up with Colton, it just came out. It felt like he was pissed at me forever over that, too.”

I continued to tell them about everything that had happened since then.

Meanwhile, Tyla found the stash of candy Colton had bought me the night before—dear Jesus, had that only been the night before?—and the three of us tore into it while I spilled everything, and I mean everything.

When I got to the part about the bitchy gossipy girls at the restaurant, the drunk asshole who’d harassed us, and the condescending paramedic, Tyla clutched her face in her hands and moaned, “Then you came home to Theo and his big, stupid fat mouth. JuJu, I am so sorry. Will you please forgive me?”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing to forgive. You weren’t the one who said anything.”

“I know, but…he’s my boyfriend. My responsibility. I should’ve…I…” Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t think he and I are going to make it.”

“What?” Sasha screeched. She seemed more startled to hear this than I did.

“He always flirts with other girls,” Tyla said. “Like right in front of me, usually when I’m trying to tell him about my day. He never pays attention when I talk to him, and some of the cracks he’s said about my friends or things I like are really starting to bother me.”

“What’s he said about me?” Sasha had to know.

Tyla seemed to wilt under our gazes. “You don’t even want to know.”

Sasha’s mouth dropped open with a gasp. A second later, she said, “Okay, you can dump his worthless ass.”

Tyla laughed, only to sob out a hiccup and wipe her wet face. “I just don’t know if I can. I’m afraid to be alone.” Her gaze shifted to me. “You were so brave when you dropped Shaun flat after he slapped you. You weren’t afraid to be alone, or stand up to him, or…any of that. And I just know I never would’ve been able to do that. I would’ve given him another chance and another and another. I’m just…I’m not that strong.”

“This is so insane,” Sasha uttered, shaking her head. “I thought you and Theo were happy together.”

“Well, I had to make you think that. You and Chad are the perfect couple. It’s sickening. And I wanted to be like that.”

“Oh my God.” Sasha snorted out a laugh. “And here, I’d been depressed because it felt as if he and I were the boring old practically married couple that never did anything new.”

“Hey, you guys skipped class and had sex all afternoon last week,” I offered helpfully. “That’s not so boring.”

Sasha and Tyla burst out laughing until tears ran down their cheeks.

“We need to do this more often,” Tyla announced as she popped a Starburst into her mouth. “This is nice.”

“I know,” Sasha said, reaching out to squeeze both our thighs. “I miss just talking to you guys.”

Feeling a little too chatty, I blurted, “I sometimes don’t feel like I can talk to you because you two are, you know, so close, and I know I’m the pathetic third wheel.”

They blinked and stared at me before saying, “Really?” as if that idea had never occurred to them.

A moment later, Sasha reached for my hand. “Oh, honey. I never meant to make you feel that way. You two are equally important to me, I swear.” Then she blushed ruefully and ducked her head. “Though I guess I should confess, you kind of intimidate the hell out of me sometimes.”

“I do? What? Why?”

“Well.” She shrugged and shared a glance with Tyla, who nodded in agreement. “It’s just…you’re so perfect. I mean…” She waved a hand over me. “Nothing is ever out of place—aside from the blood tonight, which just looks so strange on you, by the way—and you’re always…you just have everything under control. So I guess I do defer to telling my problems to Tyla more because she’s just so…”

“Messy,” Tyla supplied cheerfully. “I’m a fucking mess, and she can relate.”

“I’m a mess too,” I cried, pressing my hands to my chest. “I’m always doubting myself and worrying about shit and feeling out of control.”

Holy hell, I’d thought the guise I put on to appear as perfect as possible always failed, sure everyone could see straight through me. And yet…it’d faked out my two best friends, of all people.

“You sure know how to cover it up well, then, honey,” Sasha said kindly. “Because, damn…”

“Yeah, you need to work on that,” Tyla told me. “It makes us mortals feel better when we see you at your low point too…kind of like tonight. In fact, you get an A for unloading all that on us tonight.”

I smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll work on that.”

I guess maybe I had been the one pushing them away then, not the other way around. Realizing what kind of mess I really was, I started to apologize to them for not sharing any of my issues when my phone rang.

Seeing Colton’s name, I gasped. “Oh, shit. He’s probably been texting me all night. He said he was going to text when he got home to make sure I made it inside okay. I bet he’s worried as hell.” Holding up a finger to my girls, I answered with a breathless, “Hey, sorry. I had my text messages on vibrate only.”

“Holy shit,” he exploded into my ear. “I put my shoes back on and had my wallet in hand, ready to go back over there and check on you when I realized I hadn’t actually tried calling yet. You gave me fucking heart failure, baby doll. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” I assured him. I glanced at Sasha and Tyla. “I’m actually doing great. I had a little best friend therapy and got carried away girl-talking. I totally forgot you were going to text. So, yeah, everything is fine. I didn’t mean to worry you. I guess you got home okay, too?”

“Yeah, it’s all good here. I’m not so tired anymore, especially not after worrying about you. Did you say girl-talk?” he asked, sounding suddenly interested. “Oh, Jesus. You three are hanging out on your bed in your underwear, having a pillow fight, aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes, and Sasha snickered because she’d heard his question. A devilish gleam entered Tyla’s eyes right before she loudly proclaimed, “Let’s practice kissing again.”

“Wait, what did she say?” Colton demanded, making my roommates roll with laughter. “Maybe I should come over and check on you anyway,” he suggested.

“Goodnight, Colton,” I told him firmly, rolling my eyes. “I love you.”

I hung up on him and sent my friends an exasperated glance. “He’s such a guy.”

They were both too busy gaping at me with their mouths open to answer.

I blinked, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Honey,” Tyla said slowly. “Do you realize you just told that boy you loved him?”

“No, I didn’t,” I said slowly, running the conversation back through my head until I got to the farewell, and then all warmth drained from my face. “Oh my God, what have I done?” I turned my beseeching gaze to them and flapped my hands restlessly. “What do I do, what do I do,
what do I do
?”

Before they could answer, my phone vibrated. “Oh, God,” I uttered. “He just texted me, didn’t he?”

Tyla and Sasha dove for my phone while I remained frozen. As they greedily read the screen, I finally found the courage to ask, “What’d he say?”

Neither answered for a moment, and then Sasha read the message aloud. “He said,
Ha, I knew you’d say it first
.”

I blinked and snagged the phone from their hands. “That’s all?”

That bastard. Was he not going to say it back, or at least tell me he didn’t feel the same? How dare he leave me hanging?

Two seconds later, another message popped up.

I released a breath, and my shoulders sagged, beyond comforted. “That fucking jerk,” I said, grinning and shaking my head as I showed my friends the new message. “He made me sweat through another two seconds on purpose.”

And I kind of loved him even more for it because it was just so him.

J
ULIANNA’S
C
HAPTER
|
27

T
he next day was a Saturday, no college classes, so I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to act around Colton in philosophy. I’d never told a guy I loved him over the phone before. Actually, the only other person I’d said it to had been Shaun, and he’d proposed directly after that and we’d spent the rest of the day in bed together.

I shuddered with revulsion, just thinking about him and that day, while a nasty taste filled my tongue. Remembering other guys felt wrong now. I kind of wished everything had started with Colton because he was the only thing that felt right.

And yet I was sitting here stressing about how I was going to behave around him the next time I saw him.

We both knew we loved each other now.

What would I say to him about it? Just blurt it out again first thing? What if he retracted his part of it because he really had gotten a concussion the night before, and he’d been deliriously half out of his mind when he’d texted those three words?

I kind of wanted to puke from stressing myself out so bad.

Sasha was working all day, and Tyla was at Theo’s—I was afraid she wasn’t breaking up with him but making up, ugh—so I couldn’t bother my friends with my worries.

When a text came in from Colton mid-morning, I attacked my phone, eager to read it.

I stared at his words and exhaled a breath, relieved beyond anything I could explain. He hadn’t used the L-word, but what he’d said was just so…us, it settled everything inside me.

I told him:

To which the smart-ass immediately replied:

Yep, everything was as it should be.

When I strolled into work that night, I was actually humming contentedly to myself.

Behind the counter, Brandt was stacking glasses.

“Hey,” I called, smiling in greeting. “Pick still hasn’t found a replacement for you yet, huh?”

“No, the fucker,” he muttered with a scowl toward the back hallway. “I think he’s stalling on purpose.”

I laughed as I stowed my purse away and went to assist him. “That’s what you get for being an awesome employee.”

He sniffed moodily and rolled his eyes, then paused working when his phone rang. As he answered, I finished his task for him and moved on to fill some bowls with pub mix.

“No, I haven’t seen it yet,” Brandt told whoever he was talking to on the phone. “Noel called this morning, all freaked out about it, though, demanding to know what happened, but I had no clue Colton had even
been
in a fight.”

I paused filling bowls and glanced over at him.

“Hold on a sec. I’m at work; I’m gonna put you on speaker phone.” He pushed a button and set his phone one the counter. “Still there?” he asked, as he checked the cash register.

I stopped what I was doing to stare at his phone.

“You should see this fucking shiner, man,” the voice through the phone cried. “It’s fucking impressive. I’m telling you what, my protégé has done me proud, whipping up a black and blue eye like that. Hell, it’s bigger than the one Blondie gave me.”

Brandt snorted. “Are you still claiming she gave you your biggest black eye yet? Shit, the one I gave you was easily twice as big as hers.”

“Was not,” the caller argued. “Your weenie little bitch slap barely left a mark. But whoever got our boy last night got him good. I’m telling you, someone knocked the shit out of him.”

Shaking his head, Brandt frowned thoughtfully. “And he’s still not saying how he got it?”

I swallowed uneasily and took a step backward from Brandt and his conversation with who I decided sounded like his brother-in-law, Ten.

“Nope,” Ten answered. “Just that he got into it with some stupid drunk.”

Turning away, I dug my own phone from my purse and sent off a text.

He answered seconds later.

My heart did a little happy dance. From listening in on Brandt and Ten’s conversation, I’d been so sure Colton still wanted to keep us a secret from his family. After last night, exchanging love-words, keeping secrets from his family didn’t sit so well with me. So learning he and I were actually on the same page was pretty awesome.

I wrote back:

Then I bit my lip and added:

Trying not to jump up and down with excitement, I answered: