She looked up from the lettuce she was stripping. A weird moment passed between us and I didn’t know if it was just me or if she felt it too. “I promised Laika we’d meet for drinks before she left for Jersey.” She didn’t return my smile.
I was a fingernail away from shaking it out of her. I fucking missed her laugh, her smile, her teasing, her playfulness. We’d become strangers in our own home, and I fucking hated it.
That last two hours we’d spent on the hood of the car under the darkened sky with nothing but the soft whistles of night crawlers and an occasional hoot of an owl, was one of the best moments in my life. What I hadn’t anticipated when we returned home was Skye would change this drastically. It was like she’d developed a tick box to either annoy the fuck out of me or get even for stealing the limelight to her graduation. Somehow, I didn’t believe that and the perverted fuck I’d become around her, hoped it was something more, something deeper than revenge.
“That’s strange, Fred said he was bringing the entire family to dinner.” Without looking up from the steaks he was seasoning, Dad referred to Laika’s grandfather and missed Skye’s eye roll.
Grinning, I slipped into the stool at the island. She scowled at me, and I added a little more fuel to that fire. “I met Sam and Nyla’s dads down at the gym, they mentioned they’ll be here too, with their families.”
Her eyes on me, Skye’s face became expressionless. How she’d mastered that, was ingenious. I regretted my words and mouthed a, “sorry.” It had no effect. I got the cold shoulder as she went back to tossing the salad.
Fuck.
Later that evening, I was no closer to bringing Skye around. All through dinner, then drinks after, I made a half-hearted attempt to participate in conversations around me, to no avail. The fact that she’d spent practically half the evening flirting with Samantha’s brother, Daniel, annoyed the fuck out of me. I hated how they huddled together in one corner, engrossed in whispered chats and an occasional laugh I couldn’t ignore.
Raising my drink to my mouth, I tried to concentrate on the discussion between Ryleigh’s father and Jim as he said, “I think those loggers need to change...”
Skye’s laughter glided through the air and my eyes sought her out. She looked up then, her eyes dancing with mirth, her lips curved from laughing. I smiled and she glanced away.
This was the game we played all night. Each time my eyes drifted her way, it was to find her gaze on me which quickly shifted when our looks connected. She was saying so fucking much without saying nothing at all and it was driving me insane. Still, I wasn’t sure if it was just a contest to her or her heart felt what mine did.
The last straw came when she took Daniel’s hand and led him down to her hideout. Even as a soldier who’d endured rigorous workouts not to mention the strains of battle, that was the toughest fucking ten minutes of my life to act unaffected.
It didn’t work.
“What do you want now, Ryleigh,” I barked without meaning to, drawing the attention of all our guests. Throughout the evening, she’d stuck to my side and now she wanted to discuss the wedding again.
Her smile fell before she tried to cover it with a nervous laugh. “Sorry everyone, Shay’s tired of all my wedding decoration ideas.” Although she laughed with the others, I knew I’d hurt her.
Feeling like shit, I grabbed her arm as she turned to walk away. “I’m sorry, Ry, it hasn’t been a good time for me.”
She rubbed my chest lightly. “I understand. All this is taking a strain on you but don’t treat me like an outsider, Shay. You can talk to me, you know. We don’t have to marry if you don’t want to,” she said softly, shocking me then sweetly added, “it is, however, your duty to put me and this baby first.” Her bitter personality shone through her next words. “Skye’s manipulated most of your time through the years and now she’s your dad’s problem, so stop watching over her.”
That tore right through me. The idea she’d watched me eyeing Skye, messed with my head, and I snapped. “Don’t ever fucking assume you can dictate to me, Ry. You might be marrying me, but Skye will always come first. As for the baby, he’ll know his father loves him every fucking minute I’m alive,” I gritted, my voice low, my anger loud.
She gasped but I didn’t afford her an opportunity to respond. On the verge of going after Skye, I forced myself to breathe slowly when she came up the garden pathway, laughing at something Daniel said. Yet no one knew her fake smiles or laughter.
Nobody but me, that is.
All my life, this girl had me wrapped around her little finger and that was way before I discovered I was in love with her. Now, I had to ask myself how I had given my heart away knowing I couldn’t have the one I wanted, in return. Then she lifted those baby blues to me, and I answered my question.
For her smile, I’d die a thousand painful deaths and for her touch, I’d suffer memory loss every morning, just to feel it for the first time again.
I was truly fucked and there was so much I hadn’t done or said to her yet.
If only I had time...
