Until the End (Sea Breeze #9)(77)

If he was, you would think he might have mentioned marriage, or hinted at it. But over the past month he hadn’t said anything. In fact, when I had asked him what he thought I should do about the money coming in and where I should deposit it, he suggested I go speak with the bank manager and get some insight on it.

He didn’t offer to go with me. He didn’t even bring it up again.

That didn’t sound like a man who was about to propose marriage.

I reached for the box again and studied the dust on it. He hadn’t just gone out and bought it and stuck it under here recently. The more I looked at it, I realized it had been under here a while. It was wishful thinking for me to pretend he had it under here for me. This couldn’t have been meant for me. It came off with the same ease it had gone on, and then I placed it back into the box just as I had found it. With a sad sigh I lay back down on my stomach and put the box back in its hiding spot.

I wasn’t in the mood to clean anymore.

Krit

Something was wrong with Blythe. I had asked her if she was feeling okay, and she had forced a smile, then reassured me she was fine. When she wasn’t better the next day and continued to seem moody, I had asked her if someone had upset her, and she had said she was fine. A week later, when she was still acting strange and even more withdrawn, I asked her if I had done something to upset her. There was a pause before she said no . . . she was fine.

She wasn’t f**king fine.

I just didn’t know what was wrong. But I was deciding it was my fault. For the first time in our relationship, Blythe was actually pouting. The only time I felt like we were good was when we were f**king. So lately I’d been doing that even more to reassure myself she loved me and I wasn’t about to lose her.

I heard the yelling before I even got to the steps. It was Matty . . . Shit. When he didn’t mention it all week, I figured the girl wasn’t going to tell him about Green. Sounded like she changed her mind.

I took the stairs two at a time. When I got to the first landing, where Green’s apartment was, the door was open and Matty was yelling something about Blythe needing to get out of his way.

Motherf*cker!

I stormed into the room to see Blythe standing between Green and a very angry Matty. She had her hands in the air like she was shielding Green. “Do NOT f**king go a step closer to her,” I roared, shoving Matty onto the sofa and wrapping Blythe up in my arms while I glared daggers at my best friend, who had just let my woman be his shield.

“He FUCKED MY COUSIN! I’m GONNA KILL HIM!” Matty screamed, and I felt him move beside me.

I pushed Blythe behind me, then turned to block Matty. “You aren’t going to touch him with Blythe in this room. She could get hurt. And before you go committing a felony, let him talk.”

“Please!” a feminine voice begged, then started crying again. I jerked my head around to see Matty’s cousin and the cause of all this drama watching this unfold, her face red and splotchy. She sure as hell wasn’t saving Green with her body. She was letting Blythe do that.

“She’s my cousin,” Matty yelled. “I would have thought as my friend he would respect that!”

I agreed. But Green had never f**ked up like this before. The amount of time he spent going on about the girl’s hair and dimples made me think he was more attached to her than he wanted to admit.

“You had to tell him?” I snarled at the whimpering blonde. I didn’t get what he saw in that.

She shook her head frantically.

“Don’t yell at her! She was here with me and he followed her.” Green finally entered the conversation.

I turned my attention to Blythe. “I need you to go stand at the door away from danger. Can you please do that for me?”

She bit her bottom lip and looked like she had to seriously weigh the options here. Dammit, did she really think she was going to save Green?

“Love, if someone were to accidently touch you, I would lose my mind. This would go down very badly, and they both know it. Both of them need you to get out of harm’s way.”

Blythe finally nodded and glanced back at Green before going over to stand by the door.

I looked at Green this time. “Why was she coming over here? I thought this was a one-time thing and was over.”

Green paled some, then looked like he was angry. “I . . . I called her that day after, you know . . . to see if she was okay. We talked, and then she came over. She’s been over a lot this week.”

Fuck me.

“I’m going to motherf*cking kill you!” Matty shoved past me now that Blythe wasn’t in the way, and I had to grab both his arms and jerk him back before he pummeled Green.

“Let them explain first, dammit,” I ordered. Then I glanced over at the girl. “Do you like Green? Did you flirt with him and come over here of your own free will?”

She nodded, then wailed. “Yes! I tried to tell Matty that. I tried to tell him I loved Green. But he won’t listen to me.”

Yeah, well, Green didn’t love her, so I was now understanding why Matty wanted to kill him. The chick was seriously naive.

“Green?” I asked, looking back at him. “Did you know she loved you?”

He ran his hands through his hair. Then shook his head. “Not until she yelled it at Matty.”

“Did you tell her or make her think at any time that you loved her?”