That Secret Crush (Getting Lucky #3)(104)

My gaze sweeps across the restaurant, and despite my exhaustion, my pure heartache, I feel a fire igniting inside me, begging me to fight. I’m thinking option number two is the winner. Now to enlist some help . . .





CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE





EVE


“Are you really not going to eat any of these waffles I made you?”

I stare at the stack and shake my head. “I’m not hungry.” I pull my legs in closer to my chest and rest my chin on my knees. “Stick them in the freezer. We can toast them in the morning.”

“You never pass up my waffles. What’s going on?”

Staring at the blank TV from my spot on the couch, I try to hold back the emotions that are bubbling up inside of me, but there’s no use. When it comes to Reid, I’m an emotional wreck.

“I love him, Eric. I love him so much.”

He’s in the middle of packing up the waffles in a freezer bag when he stops and faces me. “What do you mean? Did you two not make up last night?”

I shake my head. “No. I mean, he wanted to, but I can’t seem to let go of the fact that he chose the restaurant over me or that he so easily threw in the towel when things got complicated. That really hurt me.”

Setting down the waffles, Eric makes his way to the couch and sits down beside me, pulling my feet over his lap. “You’ve been friends with Reid for as long as I have, and we both know he’s the most loyal guy there is. Even after our falling-out, he still reached out, connected with me on our parents’ death anniversaries, on holidays. He was always there. And he was there for you when I wasn’t. But sometimes his loyalty goes too far. This was one of those instances. Instead of listening to his heart, he stayed loyal to me, honoring something I never should have asked of him. Don’t punish Reid for that, for being loyal when he doesn’t know any other way to be.”

Furious at my own vulnerability, I swipe at my eyes and look away, but Eric catches my chin, turning me back toward him.

“If you still love him, then let yourself love him.”

“What if he hurts me again?” I ask, my fears surfacing. “I’ve been broken twice already. I don’t know if I can do it again.”

He pulls me into a hug and holds me tight, letting me sink into the familiar feel of his embrace. “I can’t promise you that he won’t hurt you again, but what I can promise is that no matter what, he will always stand by your side because that’s the type of man he is.”

There’s a knock at the door, interrupting my rebuttal. Standing from the couch, I wipe at my eyes again and open the door to find Brig standing on the other side.

What’s he doing here?

“Eve, the fairest maiden in all of Port Snow, will you please accompany me outside?” He bows and holds out his arm.

From outside, I can hear Reid shout, “I told you not to fucking call her a maiden.”

“You want her back, don’t you?” Brig shouts in response. “Let me do my thing!” Turning back to me, he smiles widely. “Care to join me?”

Chuckling even as my heart kicks into overdrive, I take his arm. Despite myself, I’m curious to see what I’m going to find.

And whatever I could have imagined is nothing compared to what I see when I step outside.

Wearing an entire suit of armor and sitting atop a brown horse is Reid, looking incredibly uncomfortable and pushing back the visor of his helmet as it continuously falls forward.

Oh.

My.

God.

Standing at his sides are his other brothers, Griffin and Rogan, as well as Jen, Ren, Harper, and—how embarrassing—his parents.

I think I might just die from either laughter or embarrassment.

“What the actual fuck?” Eric whispers as he steps up behind me and then bursts into laughter.

Brig steps away from me and announces, “Cue the bubbles.”

“What? Brig, I said no bubbles!” Reid exclaims as the horse starts pawing at the ground, getting antsy. “Whoa, buddy, settle down.”

Jen pulls a toy lawn mower bubble maker from behind her back and starts moving it back and forth, producing a tiny stream of bubbles.

“Jen,” Brig chastises. “I said bubble maker, not one of your kids’ toys.”

“You gave me an hour. This is what you get.”

Groaning, Brig points to Rogan and Griffin. “Cue the music.”

Rogan taps away at his phone while Griffin holds up a portable speaker barely the size of his hand. Taylor Swift begins to play, and Brig nearly has a conniption as he flies at Rogan and steals his phone.

“I said a live band, not Taylor Swift 2017. She’s so angry. If you’re going to play Taylor, go with 2008 Taylor.”

With a few taps, “Love Story” starts playing on the speaker, and Brig points at his parents. “Unfurl the banner!”

Together, they roll out an old banner that says, CONGRATS GRAD! but the words are scratched out and I’M SORRY is written instead.

The only problem: it’s upside down.

“For fuck’s sake!” Brig hurries to his parents and rights the banner just as two confetti poppers go off, shooting paper into the sky and scaring the actual piss out of the horse, which rears up and knocks Reid right onto his ass with a loud clunk.