Living Out Loud (Austen, #3)(46)

Tim laughed, a big, bawdy sound, and clapped me on the upper arm. “Attaboy. Go get your girl, steal her back from That Motherfucker. And if he gets in the way, just punch him. Twice.”

“Why twice?”

He smirked. “Once for me.”





12





Practically Perfect





Greg

Sleep was an effective reset. I woke the next morning with a sense of renewed purpose. I had a plan in my pocket and a goal in mind: get that girl.

My girl, I’d said last night without thinking. Because the second I’d seen Annie with Will, that was my first and only thought.

Mine.

It was stupid and archaic, savage even, but the instinct was deep and automatic. That single word sang unbidden from my heart at the mere thought of her with another man. Maybe it was because part of me was already hers. Any choice I had to the contrary had long since passed, if there ever had been a choice.

That realization had at least spawned a plan, and when I pulled open the door to Wasted Words on my day off, it was with a donut map in my pocket, a smile on my face, and hope in my heart.

I scanned the store looking for Annie, spotting her behind the register on a stool with her chin propped in her hand and her eyes on an open book on the counter, her face soft and lovely and content. With a spring in my step and my speech on a loop in my mind, I headed over to her.

She looked up, first with the polite reception she would give a customer, a stranger, but when she saw it was me, her eyes lit up like New Year’s Eve.

“Hey,” she said cheerily, closing her book. “I didn’t expect to see you on your day off.”

I smiled, ignoring the squirming nerves in my stomach and that damnable fluttering hope in my chest. “I wanted to bring you something.”

“Ooh, a surprise? I love surprises.”

My smile tilted into a smirk. “Remember the other day when you said you’d like to get your hands on a list of donut shops?”

She nodded, grinning.

“Well, look what I found.” I pulled the map out of my back pocket and slid it across the counter, feeling like a king when her face shifted into sheer elation.

“Oh my God!” She unfurled the map and pored over it. “I’m gonna gain fifty pounds and probably have a heart attack, but it’s gonna be so worth it,” she said with a giggle.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hit a few when your shift is over.”

When she looked up, that fluttering hope took a dive. Her face fell, her green eyes disappointed.

“I’d love to, but Will is picking me up from work to take me out.”

“Ah,” I said, trying to hang on to my smile and mask my own disappointment. “So, are you guys, like…dating?”

She smiled, a bright, hopeful expression on her small face. “I don’t really know yet. But I’m sorry, can we do it another day?”

“Sure.” My mouth felt like the inside of a shoe in the summertime. “Where’s he taking you?”

The question almost sounded like an accusation, but Annie didn’t seem to notice, just flung herself into her explanation with a love-struck smile on her face.

“It’s a surprise. He wouldn’t tell me anything specific, but when we were texting last night, I got the impression that it’d involve a meal at the very least. That was all I could guess though. He’s got me completely in the dark.”

She was beaming and shining, and I consequently had no idea what else to say, my plans chucked out the window and my speech lying uselessly in the back of my mind.

I swallowed the stone in my throat, anxious to get out of her space so I could sort through my tumbling thoughts.

“Well, I hope you guys have fun. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow—”

“Wait,” she said, her smile fading. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” I lied.

“Because yesterday—” Her eyes darted behind me. “Will!”

The change to her face was so complete, so crystal clear, there could be no denying her feelings. But the more painful realization was this: the way she looked at him was nothing like the way she looked at me. He was the center of the universe, and I was Pluto, spinning around in the freezing cold on the edge of the solar system.

Annie walked around the register counter, stopping when she reached him like she wasn’t exactly sure how to greet him.

That Motherfucker had no problem showing her.

He stepped into her like the interloper that he was, a bouquet of flowers in one hand, the other winding around her waist as he bent to press a chaste kiss on her cheek, a cheek that flushed eagerly under his touch.

I wondered if that was a first, something she would check off her list, and the thought made me so angry, I worried I might crawl out of my skin right there in the middle of the bookstore. My breath was shallow, chest on fire, but somehow the rest of me was a well-maintained mask of calm.

Will glanced at me, his arm still around Annie. “Brandon,” he said in lieu of a greeting.

“Bailey.” The bite in the word was low, but it was there all the same.

His eyes told me he’d heard it, and he’d heard it loud and clear.

Annie was as oblivious as ever, her eyes on his face with adoration. “Let me just go clock out and grab my things, okay?” She swung by the counter and retrieved the map, folding it back up before extending it to me. “Here, don’t forget this, Greg.”