Mackenzie:
Mackenzie:Hate to break it to you, Marine, but there’s a reason anything we post of him goes crazy online.
Beth:That’s true.
Cole:Hey.
Beth:
Austin:Seriously, it’s a good article, bro. I’m proud of you.
Something sticks in my throat. I reach for a wing, eating it in the hope I’ll feel normal afterward, wiping my fingers on the napkin before picking up my phone again.
Cole:We all are.
I blink quickly.
Beth:Do you have her number @Beau? I’d love to message, to congratulate her.
Message to congratulate Bailey? If anyone does that, it should be me. But I can hardly say no to Beth. I copy Bailey’s number from my contacts and paste it into the chat.
Then a private message from Austin comes through:You know, Beth’s right. Any one of us could have written that article, if wecould write half as damn well as Bailey. She really got your measure.
I swallow quickly.
That’s her job.
You sure that’s all it is?he replies.
I stare at the wall, that same urge to confide in him creeping over me.
You know what I’m like.
I’m someone who can’t help flirting, hooking up with women. Never mind that I haven’t really been like that in years. I’m casual and careless. I hurt Ash, I hurt Bailey, god knows how many other women there are that I hurt without meaning to, without even realising it.
Don’t do that.
I ignore the message. I’m not in the mood for a pep talk. Austin doesn’t realise it, though.
I saw how you were with her.
My heart jerks.
What does that mean?I type.
You looked at her like she was your world. I thought you were going to have kittens when she rode that damn pretend bull. It was different, Beau. You were different.
I squeeze my eyes shut, the pounding in my chest impossible to ignore.
And that wasn’t just an article. It was proof that she knows you, she gets you, and I reckon she’s probably in love with you.
I make a loud scoffing sound. Start to typefuck off, but something holds me back. A thousand micro fragments of memories of Bailey in the hotel room burst through me. Things she said, the way she acted. Her palpable grief. At the time, I’d put it down to what happened with her and Kirk, presumed she was just feeling that all over again. That I’d triggered some pain from her past.
But what if that was only partly true?
What if the pain was all her own, all new, and because of me? More specifically, how she feels about me.
I can well believe you, of all people, missed it.
