Page 117 of Vegas with my Brother’s Best Friends

“With Cassidy,” Sarah replies with a serious expression on her face.

“Where is she? We need to talk to her,” I ask her.

Sarah glances over at Ryan, who nods. She smiles at him and wraps her fingers around his bicep. “Go to the beach.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. and Mrs. Monroe to the dance floor!” the DJ announces.

“We have to go,” Ryan tells us. “Don’t mess this up.”

I give him a small smile and a nod before leading the guys out of the courtyard and toward the beach.

Clear as day, I see a silhouette standing under the moonlight in a flowy dress, the waves crashing at her feet.

I share a quick look with the guys before continuing on, the tension surrounding us building with every step that we take. We approach her on her left side, but she doesn’t turn her head to look at us just yet.

She continues to gaze out at the water as it glows silver, a peaceful look adorning her face.

“Sarah found you,” she says.

“We found her. We were looking for you,” I tell her as we slow down our pace.

Cassidy takes a deep breath before finally turning to us, making us stop in our tracks. The sea breeze gently ruffles her hair, making her dress flow around her bare feet.

I think this is the most peaceful I’ve seen her look in a while. In a way, that kind of scares me.

Is she content with her decision to let us go?

“I overheard you talking to Ryan.”

My stomach drops, and I don’t know why. That’s probably a good thing, right?

“Did you hear everything?” Tyler asks, sounding as nervous as I feel.

“Just about,” Cassidy replies as her eyes sweep over us. “It gave me a lot to think about.”

“And you’ve decided?” Marcus asks her.

Cassidy tilts her chin up a little and nods, looking confident. “You told Ryan that you loved me. Not just because I’m carrying your child but because…you just love me for who I am.”

“We have for a while now,” I tell her.

The sides of her mouth curl up. “For so long, I thought I didn’t deserve love like that. Being with Derek certainly didn’t help my self-esteem either since he thinks I’m not even capable of taking care of myself.”

“Because he’s an idiot,” I mutter.

Marcus nudges me, but I don’t regret what I said. It’s the truth.

“He offered to date me to help me out,” Cassidy tells us. “He doesn’t think that I would be a good single mom.”

“He doesn’t seem like the type to be an involved dad,” Tyler comments.

“Like Jackson said, he’s an idiot,” Marcus scoffs, making me lift my eyebrows. So much for keeping the peace. “He’ll never say you’re good enough because he needs to be the best to satisfy his ego.”

Her expression warms up a little. “And that’s why I told him no. Because it’s clear to me that he doesn’t value me like others do. Like the three of you do.”

I reflect her smile, keeping myself from reaching out to her just yet. There’s still more to say. Still more to decide.

“I deserve to be happy. I deserve more than the family I grew up in,” Cassidy says. “And I can have that with the three of you. I can have the big, happy family I didn’t get to grow up in. The love that conquers all.”