Weston turned the glass of water in his hand unhappily.
“You didn’t tell anyone. Do you even want to be part of this family? I thought we stuck together.”
“So either you are in love and decided not to tell anyone, or you aren’t and Avery has you by the balls but you’re too stubborn to ask for help. So which is it?” Parker asked.
None of the above. Just being a bit of a sociopath.
“We love you; you’re our brother. We don’t want you to get hurt,” Mace added, face concerned. “Family looks out for each other.” My brothers nodded.
“Of course we’re here for you if you need mental help as well,” Liam added.
“Well, that’s obvious,” Parker said. Mace shoved him, then he hugged me. “You’re my baby brother. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. If there’s anything going on, we can fix it.”
“Group hug!” Archer yelled and squished me between himself and Mace. My other brothers piled on.
I loved my family, and the guilt burned in my gut when I looked them each in the eye and lied, “I’m in love with Avery. Nothing’s going on. We’re just in love, and I want to build a life with her.”
“Okay,” Weston said. He looked slightly sad then rallied. “Then we’re here for you one hundred percent.”
25
Avery
Blade seemed cold and distant the rest of the afternoon at work, though it may have just been my own projection. Even though I was behind on work from the meeting with Dana, Penny, and Gunnar to review my tentative plans for the wedding, I couldn’t focus when I returned to the office. Someone was fanning the gossip flames on the internet about my “relationship” with Blade.
My mother’s mug shot was plastered on the front page of a popular gossip site along with a bad picture of me next to it. Another site was taking bets on whether Blade was going to come to his senses and dump me. Internet forums were speculating that Blade was actually the one manipulating me and that I was going to end up locked in a shipping container on a compound in Wyoming.
I glanced back at Blade’s office. His expression was stony. It was now late in the evening; the rest of the office was dark, and it was just the two of us.
Avery:I’m seriously losing it.
Shirley:Eyes on the prize.
Edward:I already gave notice at my job in anticipation of you getting that house.
Shirley:You mean your handyman jobs?
Edward:Now I need to be full-time wedding planning since two thousand people are coming to Avery’s wedding.
Shirley:That’s way more people than Meghan Markle’s wedding!
Avery:I’m so stressed out!
Avery:How am I going to feed them all, how am I going to decorate?
Edward:That’s why you have us—the greatest wedding-planning team ever!
Avery:We need two years to plan this, not two months.
Shirley:We have less than two months actually so…
Avery:*hyperventilates*
“You ready to go?” Blade asked, voice tense, face dark.
“I guess. I’ll just finish this up at home—er—your house.”
Blade waited for me in silence as I packed up my laptop and put on my coat. He didn’t smile in the car as we drove silently back to his condo. I had to trot behind him as he entered the building and went to the elevator.
