Her lower eyelids filled with unshed tears. “I’m so fucked up in the head.”
“You’re not.” He wrapped his hands around her waist. “We just have to work to change your conditioning, that’s it. It’s not fucked in the head when you’re responding in a way that was expected or needed before. That was adapting.”
“And now we all need to un-adapt in different ways,” I added.
“I don’t think that’s a word,” she said, shooting me a soft smile.
“I’ll make it a fucking word, just for the three of us.”
“Un-adapt,” West mused. “Not sexy at all, but I like it.” He slid his grip down to her bare ass and squeezed. “Now, about the rehearsal dinner. What do you want to do, Juno? That’s what we’ll do.”
With a sigh, she lay down, resting her cheek on his chest to face me. “I think I want to go. If anything, to get the awkwardness of us three together over with. Apparently, Eric mentioned our unique relationship to his mom, who told everyone.”
Her squeal reverberated around the room when both of West’s palms slapped her round ass.
“Then that settles it. We’re going to this rehearsal dinner and will gladly let you show us off, so everyone knows we’re proud as hell to be your dates.”
She shifted to press her chin on his sternum and smiled up at him. “Same.”
My heart stuttered at the sight of them lying there, smiling at each other, completely and utterly happy. I always had the need to protect those who I loved, but this was different. It was more—way fucking more.
Prison more.
Death more.
Anything to keep these two protected, safe, and together.
24
JUNO
Alight breeze ruffled my styled hair, sending rogue pieces to flutter in front of me, distorting my view of the glowing restaurant sign. One of their hands wrapped around each of my own, offering silent comfort and support as I gazed at the humming orange light, building up my courage and patience to walk through the door. A sense of relief washed over me knowing this could’ve been me, this exact restaurant on this exact day, but instead of being twenty-four hours from sealing my life to a baby narcissist, I was free, living a life I actually enjoyed and didn’t dread every morning.
Nostalgia swirled as I looked through the painted glass to the party going on inside. I had chosen this place because it was where I first met Eric. On the short walk from the hotel, I’d prepared myself for the grief to hit me full force standing here, that the pain that nearly killed me when I first left would come roaring back.
But instead, I felt nothing but weight-lifting liberation.
Sensing his stare burning into the side of my face, I shifted my attention up to Langston. He studied me like he was actuallyconcerned about how this affected me, and not because of how it would reflect on him, but because he cared about me, my feelings, my emotions. Turning to West, a giggle escaped at him fighting with the collar of his shirt, pulling it away from his neck like it was tightening by the second.
It was then that the relief vanished and I was overwhelmed by utter gratitude and love for the two men at my side.Lovemight be too strong a word considering things were new between us, but then again, they actually weren’t. This, between the three of us, had been building, almost to the boiling point, since I arrived in Anchor Bay.
Nostrils flaring with a deep inhale through my nose, I forced my feet forward up to the glass front door, the guys matching me step for step at my sides. For a second, I wondered what it would be like to do this alone, to face the crowd without any support. There was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t have come. But with West and Langston at my sides, I could not only handle whatever the night brought but maybe anything.
With a white-knuckled grip, Langston pulled the door open, guiding me through first with a firm hand pressed against my lower back. The moment I stepped across the threshold, all the laughter and loud, excited chatter stopped. It was as if all noise of any kind was sucked from the room as every face turned our way, gazes flicking between me and the guys with mixed expressions of disgust and curiosity.
I felt the heat build along my cheeks and down my neck under all the critical stares of the twenty-plus people attending the rehearsal dinner.
“The entire time you were at that shower, Langston was sharpening his knife,” West murmured in my ear. “So if you want anyone taken out, I know a guy.”
Just like that, his words plus the humor lacing them had all the tension draining from my taut muscles. I huffed a laugh,shaking my head in fake exasperation, but shot him a smile full of gratitude as I forced myself deeper into the viper’s nest.
Pushing through the still-silent crowd, the happy couple approached us both with wide, fake smiles on their faces. I noted Eric’s too-tight hold on Stephanie’s waist; it seemed more controlling than romantic or protective. Her rigid posture was obvious, making her movements stiff as she leaned in for a hug, constricting her arms around me so tight that I almost couldn’t breathe. Her hold felt desperate; I half expected her to whisper, “Help me,” in my ear.
“I’m so glad you could make it, Juno, and… friends.” Eric’s words were as stiff as his posture as he glared at Stephanie’s back. “All right, that’s enough of that. You just saw her this afternoon. Release my June Bug.”
When the words registered, I narrowed my eyes at Eric, lips parting to correct him, but I should’ve known Langston would beat me to it.
“Not yours,” he practically growled, then gestured to West. “Ours. If you try to claim her like that again, I will see it as a challenge. And she fucking hates that nickname, so don’t use it again.”
