“Yeah,” she says. “I see a lot, Sunny. I just choose to not acknowledge it. Which is why I’m still shocked I did not see Cole and Macey. Too blinded by my own feelings,” she sighs. “I know that you’ve been hurt badly and it might feel so foreign to be feeling what you feel so soon after Ryan. I may be biased but Tyler, he’s incredible, Sunny.” Her eyes start to water. “He’ll never hurt you the way Ryan did. I know you’re leaving, so this must all be so confusing, but definitely try to talk to him. Because like I said, Tyler is intense and once he’s committed, it’shard to sever that commitment. And we can help you. We know lawyers, judges.” She places a hand over mine trying to comfort me.
“I..I..” The words are caught on my tongue.
“We don’t have to figure it out now. I just wanted to tell you that.” She smiles.
I do what I do best—I shift topics. “So, are you okay after hearing the Cole and Macey news?”
Sam blows a breath and then laughs. “I have to be. I guess I should’ve taken a hint, but I was so blind to it. After we hooked up, I just wanted more of him. I guess it was just a moment of weakness on both our parts. Even with the miscarriage, it honestly was probably for the best.” She takes a sip of her champagne. “They make sense though.”
I won’t say it out loud, but I couldn’t agree more. Macey and Coledomake sense.
“And what about Anthony?” I ask.
In a perfect world, I’d be with Tyler, Macey with Cole, and Sam with Anthony. But this isn’t a perfect world. This is reality and we don’t always get what we so wish for.
If only we could.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love Anthony. When we hooked up, I’d be lying if I said I couldn’t imagine doing that for the rest of my life. I’m just not there. Maybe one day. Or maybe I’ll find a hot MILF.”
We both start laughing together until tears come from our eyes. Once we finally settle, I make my apology.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I hid behind your back with your brother, and you had to find out the way you did. I feel like we kind of cornered you and bombed you.”
Sam waives a hand. “It’s fine. You know me, always gotta be the center of attention. I just want you to know, I’m only slightly bitter he got you and I didn’t when I clearly made the bolder first move.”
We hug one another then I grab the bottle of champagne on the table. “Alright, now let’s fucking party like it’s the New Year.”
TYLER
She’s left an imprint on me, one so deep that it’ll simply never go away. If she leaves, I’ll spend the rest of my life missing everything we could’ve been.
Which is why I simply cannot let her.
Our family knows now. There is no more hiding. And I know they will do everything they can to make her stay, too.
Don’t run from me, Sunny. We were doing so good.
I was given a taste of what normalcy would look like with her. Now that it’s gone, I feel starved. I want everything with her—the sweet moments of hands holding, forehead kisses and pink cheeked glances. And I want all the depraved parts—the hands tied, bite marks and tasting one another.
And I’m determined to get that.
“Okay.” Anthony sits down. He points to Cole and Macey. “All I want to know is when, how, why.” Then he points at me. “When, how, why and what the fuck you gonna do.”
A laugh escapes me because I don’t even know the fucking answer to the question. I battle it every day. My girl needs time we don’t have, but I’m doing everything in my power to give it to her.
“One night at Martha’s.” Cole starts the story he shared with me just a few months prior when we sparred all night long.
Anthony knew Cole was seeing someone. He just didn’t know it was Macey. And Anthony knew I’m in love with Sunny, he just didn't know that she’s starting to reciprocate with me.
“I was giving her a ride home and for some reason, she justdidn’t want to leave the truck.” He smiles down at Macey. I feel the void in my own lap with Sunny gone. A prelude to what my life will be in the next few months if I don’t do something about it.
“We just started talking and by the time we realized it, hours had gone by,” Macey says.
“That was the night it changed for me. Something just snapped in place. It was like, there was something tying us together and I didn’t want to let it go,” Cole admits.
And I understand, I really do.
“It just kind of spiraled from there. We found ourselves coming and going to family dinners together just so we could have more truck moments. I’d pick her up and drop her off. Until finally one night, I told her that I didn’t want her to go home. I told her I wanted her to come home with me,” Cole says, tightening his grip around Macey.
