“And if I … if I don’t make it in the business,” he asked, “will you still love me?”
“Yes, I’ll still love you,” I whispered, taking his face in my hands. “Stop it.”
He sat and shook his head, staring at me with so much pain on his face. “If I lose you—no, no. I can’t lose you. I’ve waited so long for you to be mine, but I feel like everything is falling out of place. I feel like the whole world is against me, between the fundraising and my father, Derek …”
I pushed his tears away with my thumbs. This had all come on so suddenly.
“I don’t care how much money you make. I don’t care if your business succeeds or fails. I don’t care what we do together. All I want is for you to be happy, Charlie,” I whispered.
He had always told me that he didn’t care what people thought, but it seemed like he did a bit more than he had led on.
And it was hard to let go, to truly not care about the opinions of others.
“Look at me,” I whispered to him, lifting his chin and kissing him on the lips, tasting the saltiness of his tears. “You’re mine as much as I’m yours, and I won’t give up on you, no matter what happens between us or to us.”
If I had known that the man at brunch was Charlie’s father, I never would’ve said anything to him and really wouldn’t have let him pay. I thought it was an innocent interaction, someone finding our girl group cute and wanting to make our day.
After Charlie had told me the truth, I knew his father had done that to make Charlie upset.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips, resting his forehead on mine.
“I love you too, Charlie.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
ATHENA
Sun and I flew down the highway in my car on our way to the coffee shop, music blasting so loud that it vibrated the car. I bobbed my head to the rhythm and ignored the cop that we had passed, hoping he wouldn’t pull me over.
Man, for the past few days, I’d felt like I was on top of the world.
Moving her head back and forth, Sun hummed and stared out the window. I took the exit for Carnegie and followed the road toward the coffee shop. Outside, a light drizzle of rain pattered against the windshield.
I parked the car, paid the meter on my phone, and grabbed my bag from the trunk.
“I’m so jealous of you and Charlie,” Sun hummed. “You guys are perfect together.”
Playfully, I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on …”
“Seriously though,” Sun said. “You’re so lucky.”
“Lucky that I’m married and don’t remember the wedding?”
She sighed softly, stepped into the café, and shook off her jacket. “I don’t know if I will ever have that with Russ and Maya. They’re really happy together, and I definitely add to the relationship, but …”
“But what? You’re happy with them.”
“At some point, I want to get married too. But they’ve already had a wedding. They are already set into their life. I don’t know if they would accept me into their marriage, as more than just a doll they can use.”
I frowned when her frown deepened. “Ah, Sun.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to say or how to even say it. Since the day we had met, Charlie and I had been friends and connected on an emotional level. Sun’s relationship was physical, but it definitely had emotional elements to it.
I had seen how Maya looked at her when Sun turned away. I had seen the jealousy in Russ’s eyes when someone at Radiant paid a bit too much attention to her the other day. It was more than physical to them.
But was it relationship-worthy? Marriage-worthy? I didn’t know.
