“Then we’ll be the best parents who ever co-parentedever,” Courtney assured. “It’ll be an opportunity to figure that out. An opportunity to do it whole and complete and not holding on to a heap of history.”
The knock on the door came loud and long, but he didn’t break the link between their gazes.
“VIP’s waiting,” Hans said through the door.
“Go,” she whispered.
He wasn’t entirely certain if she was telling him goodbye or see you later.
To be honest with himself, he was pretty sure it was the former.
And the walls were closing in, he couldn’t breathe, and he was stupid as hell… so he left.
In the moment, walking out the door seemed like the worst thing he could’ve done. Seemed like his gut screamed at him to stop, but his feet kept right on moving.
“What happened to you?” Linx asked when Bax arrived at the photo-op area. The fans would be streaming through any second, and all he wanted to do was hit something.
“I…” Bax looked at the guy he’d betrayed by falling into the shower with his sister and then falling in love with her. “I can’t lose Courtney.”
The hard expression Bax had become used to with Linx softened.
“What’d we miss?” Knox asked, hopping on his toes and scooting right between them, Tanner and Mach in tow. “Looks intense.”
“I love Courtney,” Bax said.
“Cool.” Knox nodded. “We ready to take some pictures?”
“No.” Bax shook his head. Then he stopped.
Turned.
Began walking back in the direction he had come from. Back toward Courtney. Toward his family. Toward his future.
Mach and Tanner stood in the way with goofy grins on their mugs.
“I think he finally gets it.” Tanner held a fist up to bump with Mach. “I was beginning to worry.”
Mach fist-bumped Tanner, and Bax walked right past them. Jogged. Sprinted.
He opened the door to the bus, saying, “You’re not a woman a guy like me gives a bracelet to, because you’re the kind of woman who deserves a ring. When you get jewelry, that’s what it needs to be.”
He’d been thinking about that a lot lately. Maybe they weren’t there yet. When they were ready, if she decided that was what she was up for, he’d be ready. First, he needed to be sure she didn’t feel the pressure of motherhood pushing her down the aisle.
“I don’t want to be with you only because you can’t be away from our daughter,” Courtney said. “I don’t know that I could forgive you for that.”
“I want to be withyoubecause I can’t be away fromyou.” He tilted her chin, stroking the soft skin there beneath her jaw. “It’s always been you. I can’t be me without you.”
“Brennan, let’s be honest here. I’m not the girl who gets the rock star.”
Fuck him, she’d held onto that.
“You always saw right through me, and that pissed me off so bad.” He dropped his hand and paced the length of the small room. “I didn’t enjoy being vulnerable. I preferred to be Bax. Bax doesn’t care if you hate him. If anyone hates him.”
“I never saw through you,” she said. “You convinced me you’re a total asshat.”
“But deep down? Deep under it, you saw I was still Brennan?”
“Honestly?”
