My eyes narrowed in response. “Nothing. I—” My head snapped back. “What do you mean you don’t buy that? She’s made her point several times this weekend alone.”
“You didn’t answer.”
I quickly thought over the past three months again before admitting, “I wanted to date her. I wanted totry.”
Hunter was the only one who reacted in any way, head subtly bobbing as he removed his baseball cap just enough to run a hand through his dark hair. Once the hat was secured on his head again, he said, “I’m with Cays. I don’t buy it because I’ve seen the way she watches you, and not just today. Which means she’s scared of getting hurt by you, or you haven’t shown her why sheshouldn’tbe.”
An irritated huff burst from me, but Hunter continued before I could defend myself.
“We know how close the two of you are, just as we know you haven’t exactly been waiting around for her.”
When my mouth parted, Hunter gave me a look, daring me to challenge him, but I forced back anything I might’ve said and nodded for him to go on.
“Which meanssheknows that,” he added meaningfully. “If she doesn’t trust you not to hurt her, it’s probably because you already have.”
“That’s just it,” I cut in. “I didn’t know Icouldhurt her until recently. She’s always made it very clear that she didn’t want anything between us, so I’ve...” I tossed out a hand, unable to voice my shame out loud, even though they were more than aware of it.
“Yeah, what Hunt said,” Cayson muttered, his brows furrowed in bemusement. “We’ve seen the way she watches you, and nothing about that saysI don’t want anything between us.”
“It’s possessive,” Sawyer picked up for him.
Cayson’s head tilted before dipping in acceptance, but he still added, “It’s longing.”
“That, and...” Hunter wavered as he tried to figure out how to word whatever it was he saw in Mallory. “Like she’s worried you’ve disappeared each time she searches you out.” He leaned closer, making sure he had my stare when he informed me, “Today more than I’ve ever seen it before.”
I’d always wondered how Thatch and my family could see what Mallory meant to me, when she couldn’t, but now I wondered how they’d been able to see all this, when I’d only started noticing it this weekend.
But with the things she’d always said, and the way I’d been...maybe we’d just played our roles well enough to dismiss the looks as something else.
Until now.
“Try talking to her,” Cayson offered. “Reallytalking to her—not leaving anything up to question. Because from what we’ve seen, and what you’re saying, you haven’t done that yet.”
A defeated sound left me because I had done that. I’d done that so many times.
But Mallory hadn’t believed anything I’d said—no one had. Not to mention, when I’d tried again today, Emberly had stopped me.
He unfolded a hand and lifted it to stop me from defending myself. “If you had, things would be different. You wouldn’t be bringing her here as your best friend, because that dynamic would’ve shifted, for better or worse.”
The dynamic with Mallory alreadyhadchanged. It’d been months of feeling lost with this stranger in her place. And then today?“I’m not his anything.”That brutal pain flared in my chest, reminding me of what it was like to truly start the process of losing her.
“Not to mention,” Cayson continued, “whateverdidhappen between y’all doesn’t look like the end of something. It looks like y’all are caught in a storm that’s about to break.” A slow smirk crept across his face. “Think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there with our wives, and it’s never ended up being a bad thing. Those breaks will break down walls and bring you closer together.”
Hunter grunted in affirmation while Sawyer stared at Cayson as if he’d grown another head. Dragging his stare to me, Sawyer muttered, “When he decides to talk, he really talks.”
A strained laugh twisted from me, but it was all I could manage as I thought about the times I’d bared parts of my soul to Mallory, only for those crumbling shields to form around her.
I heard what Cayson was saying, and I wanted that. I wanted to break down every one of those shields until there was nothing left between us. But I was terrified that wouldn’t be the case this time.
“Yeah, uh . . .” I worked my jaw. “I?—”
“You planned this.”
My head snapped to the side to see Mallory silently stalking toward us—toward me—all beauty and wrath.
A hesitant laugh climbed up my throat. “The trip? Thought that was obvious,” I muttered as she closed the remaining distance between us...and stepped away from the island in time to block the lightning-fast strike aimed at my jaw.
Such a violent thing.
