And Franc didn’t hesitate.Didn’t deflect.Didn’t joke.
Eleven years of ‘we don’t need a piece of paper.’
The room buzzed with celebration, but inside me, joy got lost to a defeated quiet that branched out until all I felt was nothing.It was as if everyone was hitting the next milestone, and I was just standing still, forever destined to always be in the same place.
This moment wasn’t about me, but I couldn’t stop wishing and wanting, desperately aware of the one thing I couldn’t have.Guilt twisted in my gut.Wyatt was so good to me, and to my family.For heaven’s sake, the man just fucked my brains out before we even arrived.After all these years, we still turned each other on, but what if that wasn’t enough?What if love and sex were only parts of the bigger puzzle of life, and without them, I’d always feel like something was missing?
Rhone came up to Wyatt and smacked a twenty into his hand.“You were right.”
“Right about what?”I asked as we waited to congratulate Franc and Quinn.
“Wyatt told me they’d be engaged within the next two months, so we bet on it.He nailed it.”
“Did Franc tell you?”I asked.
“Nope,” Wyatt declared.“Been around enough engagements, I know when it’s coming.I can practically sniff out a proposal at this point.”
He flashed the grin that always made me melt, but right now it was like a knife in my heart.
I swallowed.“So you knew Franc was going to propose, and you didn’t say anything to me.”
“I didn’t technically know.But the guy’s had this nervous energy about him this last month, then he asked me if I knew what ring size you were because he was curious.Kind of cemented it.”
“You know my ring size?”I asked the words sticking in my throat.
“Six and a half.”He winked at me.“I know everything about you, babe.”Wyatt shoved the twenty into his pocket.“And now I’m twenty bucks richer.”
“You’re like the engagement psychic,” Rhone said.
“Maybe I should start betting more,” he joked.
My lips pulled into what I hoped passed for a smile, but my insides were hollow.
How could he read everyone else’s signals so well, but fail to see mine?
Wyatt slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me close.His head dipped, breath brushing against my ear.“You okay?”Concern laced his words, which only strengthened the guilt eating away at me.
“Just surprised.Happy.For Franc and Quinn and Gio, I mean.”
“We’re going to need a vacation from all these weddings,” Wyatt said, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Yeah.”I leaned into his warmth, even as a deep chill settled in my chest.
For so long, I had convinced myself that love without marriage should be enough.So why did it feel like it wasn’t?
Exhaustion flooded through me as we walked through the front door.I loved a good celebration, but everyone expected me to be the life of the party.By the end of the night, all I wanted was my bed.I dropped the keys on the table and grabbed a bottle of water while Rose quietly slipped her shoes off.
“You okay?”I asked as she made her way across the kitchen.
“Fine.Why?”
“You’ve been quiet.”I didn’t want to say it, but after her dad made a comment about us getting married, her entire demeanor shifted.She probably expected me not to notice, but when it came to Rose, I noticed everything.
“Just tired,” she said.
“You weren’t secretly hoping I’d pull a Franc tonight, were you?”I laughed at the absurdity.
“Would it be so terrible if I were?”
