“Not funny,” he grumbles. “I didn’t know if you were talking about some random girl Aiden hooked up with at some point, or that Soleil girl Ace was dating for a while. I thought it was just some kind of random fling.”
“Well, it’s not a fling,” I say, my voice rising. “It’s pretty fuckin’ real. Hell, it's been real for years. We should have made a go of it in college, but I never pulled the trigger, and Ace did. She would have chosen me back then if I had just asked. Somehow, we found each other again on the sidelines and..." I sigh. “It’s not like I went into it looking to hurt Ace. It just happened. And now I’m fucked because … I love her. I love her, and I’ve completely fucked up because I was too big a pussy to face my twin brother.”
Archie looks at me, the initial shock on his face smoothing out to something more serious. He knows the history between Ace and Eva. He knows they dated for a year in college. He knows that Ace was hurt when they broke up.
“Eva is a little more complicated—you’re right,” Archie says. “Ace was pretty into her from what I remember. Took him a while to clear her out of his head. But, Aston … if you love her, if this is the real deal for you, then you’d better get off your ass and fix it.”
I look up, meeting his eyes. “Fix it? Do you remember what you told me?Family always comes first.”
“Look, I was basing it on the zero information you gave me,” Archie counters, stepping closer to me. “Blood is blood, Aston. That’s the real deal. But so is falling in love. So if you think she’s the one, your forever, then it’s time to be a good man and a good brother. That means you don’t hide in the dark and let the people you care about take a hit from you. You can’t keep thisfrom Ace for another second. It’s the lying and the hiding that’s poisoning this situation, not the love.”
He pauses, taking in a deep breath.
“You remember when Emma got pregnant with Lainey?” Archie asks. “We were in college, I was getting ready for my last season at Walker before the draft. But I knew I was already falling for her, and there was never a single doubt in my mind that I was going to take care of her and our baby. I wanted that life. Even with all that certainty, Dad still laid down the law.”
A smile touches Archie’s lips at the memory.
“He wasn’t mad. He just wanted to make sure I understood the gravity of the life we were bringing into the world. He looked me dead in the eyes and told me I needed to step up and be a good man, a good father, and always take care of Emma and our baby, no matter what. He wanted to make sure I had the backbone to stand by the choices I’d already made in my heart.”
He taps his knuckles against the stone counter.
“It’s the same playbook for you right now, Aston,” Archie says, his voice firm. “Go fix this with your girl. And then you go stand in front of our brother, your twin brother, and look him in the eye, and you tell him the truth. He’s probably going to want to swing at you, but he’s your blood. He’ll find his way through it because he loves you. But you have to give him the respect of the truth.”
The words hit me like a brick. The hangover doesn’t matter. The exhaustion and self-pity don’t matter. The fear that I’ve kept locked in since Eva and I slept together at Liam and Alie’s wedding is replaced by a spark of adrenaline.
Archie’s right. Hiding isn’t protecting anyone. It’s just keeping me from the only woman I’ve ever loved, and it’s hurting the brother I’ve been tied to since day one.
I stand up and finally feel like the air is rushing to my lungs.
“Eva’s still in LA,” I mutter, my mind tracking the timeline of her schedule. “I can’t even imagine how pissed she is. I’m notsure if I can get her to forgive me, but I’m sure as shit gonna do everything I can.”
Archie smiles, reaching out and slapping my shoulder with enough force that I stumble in my less than steady hungover state. “Then you better be ready the second she touches back down. Figure out what you’re gonna say, then go get your girl.”
“Thanks, Arch.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You still have to talk to Ace, and I’m not getting in the middle of it. Now go take a shower. You smell like ass.”
I grab my phone off the counter, ignoring the ache in my head as I open my text thread with her. For months, I’ve been pushing this truth into the back of my mind, living in a blissed-out bubble with her. But as I stare at the screen, reading back over her messages, I know this is the real deal, and I have to do everything I can to make this right.
I have to fight for her. I have to face the noise and clear the wreckage I’ve made. Then I have to put my heart on the line until she feels certain I’ll never hurt her like this again. I want to text her, call her, but this conversation needs to be done in person. I just hope I’m not too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
EVA
The humof the cabin on my dad’s private plane during the flight from SFO to JFK usually served as a sensory-deprivation chamber, a rare pocket of absolute silence where I could turn off the network logistics and just breathe. But today, the white noise feels like a drill pressing into my temples.
I stared out the small oval window, watching the snow-capped line of the Rockies give way to the flat of the Midwest. Below me, the country is a grid of winter earth with white patches scattered across the land.
My phone buzzes again on the table, just like it’s done eleven times since we cleared ten thousand feet. Eleven banners slide across the screen with the same name.
Aston.
I don’t bother listening to his voicemails. I don’t need to. Because the thing is, this is my life. My career.
My thumb drags across my tablet screen, clearing out the final production sheets from the awards broadcast. The ratings were astronomical—a twelve percent bump in the primary demographic, with a flawless feed from the red carpet, and not asingle camera drop during the live acceptance speeches. Including one from Ace Griffith.
On paper, I had just executed a flawless weekend.
